IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


// 


fe 


#<'. 


m/^ 


Ui 


■^ 


1.0 


I.I 


1.25 


us    ..„    ""|2C 


1.8 


JA  IIIIII.6 


"/Q 


<^ 


//a 


^■,. 


e. 


e. 


^i 


/A 


1  1  lUlU^  tipi  il<u 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  Wf.T  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


Lii, 


ks  \ 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  fo'  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  canadien  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1^ 


IQft? 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  tachmquas  at  bibliographiquas 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  imaqes  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


0 
0 
□ 
D 
D 
0 
D 

a 

□ 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagae 

Covers  testored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pallicul^e 

<".   ver  title  missing/ 

La  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gAographiquas  en  couleur 

Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encro  da  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avac  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

Lareliure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distorsion  !•  long  de  la  marge  interieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout^es 
lors  dune  resrauration  apparais&ent  dans  le  texte. 
mais.  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  iti  film^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Comm<>ntaires  suppl^mentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  ate  possible  de  se  procurer    Las  detan*. 
de  cer  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-4tre  utiiquas  cu 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  pauvent  morw  ier 
una  imagfe  reproduita.  ou  qui  pauvent  exiger   j  le 
modification  dans  la  m^thoda  normale  de  filrrage 
sont  indiqu^s  ci-des&ous. 


I      I    Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endomm&gees 

Pages  restored  and/or 

Pages  restaurees  et/ou  pelliculAes 


I      I    Pages  damaged/ 

r~~]    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 


r~7    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
UZJ    Pages  d^color^es.  tachetAas  ou  piquees 

I      1    Pages  detached/ 
!— J    Pages  detachees 

QShowthrough/ 
Transparence 

□    Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  in^gale  da  I'impression 

□    Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  supplementaire 

□    Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


n 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata.  une  pelure. 
etc..  cnt  m  flim^es  i  nouveau  de  facon  a 
obtanir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 

IPX 14X 18X ax 

\  \  \  \  \  \  \  I  I  \  m 


26X 


30X 


12X 


^6X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


Th«  copy  filmed  h«r«  hu  b««n  raproducsd  thanks 
to  th«  generosity  of: 

Memorial  Univariity  of  St.  Jo^ln's 


L'Momplairo  filmA  fut  roproduit  grjica  1  la 
gin^roaitA  da: 

Memorial  University  of  St.  John's 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hare  ara  th«  baat  quality 
posaibia  conaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  Icaapin;  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacificationa. 


Original  copiaa  In  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  laat  page  with  a  printed  <3t  illuatrated  improa- 
sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  ara  fiirnad  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impree- 
sion.  jnJ  ending  on  the  laat  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrsted  impression. 


The  laat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  'END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  platee.  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratioa.  Thoae  too  large  to  bo 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  eorrsr.  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bonom.  as  many  framea  aa 
required.  The  following  diagrama  illuatrate  the 
method: 


Lea  imagee  suh^antae  ont  At*  raproduitea  avec  le 
plua  grand  soin.  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nettat*  de  I'exempiaire  film*,  st  en 
conformity  evec  lea  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fiimage. 

Lae  axemplairee  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  eat  imprim^e  sont  film*a  en  eommen^ant 
par  le  premier  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
derniAre  pege  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'impreesion  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autree  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  film^a  en  commen^ant  par  la 
premiere  pege  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'Impreeaion  ou  d'illustration  at  en  tarminant  par 
la  damlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symbolee  suivanta  apporaitra  sur  la 
domi^re  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
caa:  le  symbole  — »  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ".  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "F!N". 

Lee  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  pauvent  itra 
filmte  i  dee  taux  de  rMuction  diff^rants. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  iua 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cJich*.  il  est  film*  ^  partir 
da  I'angle  sup*rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droito. 
et  de  haut  en  baa.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'Imagaa  n*ceasaire.  Laa  diagrammes  suivants 
illuatrent  la  m*thode. 


1  2  3 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

^F 


] 


Ir-  rr*«- 


(^■^ 


^>= 


5: 


DISCOURSE 


ON 


iE:l)c  Cife  anb  Cljacactcr  of 

I  GEORGE  CALVERT, 

THE    FIRST    LOUD    BAl/l'lMOKE: 


M  A  11  E      1)  V 


JOHN    P.    KENNEDY, 


THE    MARYL/    c    D    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY, 
OECEMBEU    O,    184S, 

lIEIXr.  THE  SECONP   ASNI    \L    ADPRESS   TO  THAT    ASSOC  lATIO.N. 


H  A  1.  1  I  M  <»  K  K 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  J.  MURPHY,  178  BALTIMORE  STBEET. 

M  i'l    «    <    .\  I.  \ 


'I 


"7  ToTvct  of  Congro.,  in  t..e  year  c.^Meen  hundred  and  «>ny-five, 

Knt«ed  according  to  tlic  Act  "         »,  „  ^    „  „  „  p  „  v  , 

,„  U.C  cork's  Office  of  the  Dl,Uict  Court  of  Maryland. 


DISCOURSE. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen, — 

Looking  tj  the  objects  contemplated  by  this  So- 
ciety and  its  ability  to  attain  them,  and  to  the  ear- 
nestness with  which  it  has  undertaken  its  office,  I 
would  venture  to  foretell  that  Maryland  will  find 
frequent  occasion  to  applaud  its  labors,  and  to  ac- 
knowledge much  good  service  done  in  a  good  cause. 

Its  establishment  is  a  timely  and  most  appropriate 
tribute  rendered  by  the  City  of  Baltimore  to  the 
State.  The  munificence  of  our  City  will  never  find 
a  more  honorable  object  for  its  outlay,  its  intelligence 
a  more  dignified  subject  for  its  application,  the  pa- 
triotism of  our  City  a  more  dutiful  employment  than 
th&L  which  is  presented  to  its  regard  in  the  purpose 
and  proceeding  of  this  association.  Baltimore  indeed 
ovt'ed  it  to  that  community  of  which  she  is  the  social 
centre,  to  the  intellectual  accomplishment  which 
dwells  within  her  own  halls,  and  owed,  too,  I  think, 
to  the  name  she  bears— a  name  which  has  not  yet 
been  illustrated  as  fully  as  its  historic  value  dv-serves 
—to  set  herself  diligently  to  the  task  of  exploring 
and  preserving,  as  far  as  means  exist,  the  past  and 
present  materials  which  belong  to  the  long  neglected 
history  of  Maryland. 

We  ha\e  now  addressed  ourselves  to  this  task: 
taken  the  lead  in  it,  as  it  was  proper  Baltimore  should. 
For  two  yenrs  past  this  Society  has  very  intelligently, 


I 


niHCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


anil  not  u  ithout  some  good  fruits,  pursued  the  intent  of 
its  organization.    We  mean  to  persevere ;  and  we  now 
invoke  our   townsmen  to   stand  by  us,  to   give   us 
countenance  and  aid,  substantial  contribution,  to  help 
us  to  rear  a  monument  which  shall  tell  to  our  own 
people,  to  our  sister  cities  in  the  Union,  and  to  all  the 
world,  that  in  the  cause  of  letters  and  the  elegant 
arts — the  truest  witnesses  of  high  civilization  and 
refinement,— we   fully   understand   and   perform  the 
obligation  which  our  position  has  cast  upon  us.     I 
think  I  do  the  citizens  of  Baltimore  no  more  than 
justice  when  I  express  my  conviction  that,   for  the 
promoting  of  a  purpose  so  commended  to  their  appro- 
bation, appealing  so  directly  to  their  proper  pride  in 
the   adornmetJt  of  this   their  own  homestead,  and, 
above  all,  so  grateful  to  that  sense  of  duty  which 
finds   its  gratification  in  exalting  the  glory  of  our 
country,  by  making  known  the  virtues  of  its  ances- 
try  I   think   I   do  them   no  more  than  justice   in 

believing  that  their  co-operation,  support  and  encour- 
agement will  be  administered  to  the  objects  of  this 
Society  with  that  lavish  hand  and  honorable  good 
will  which  become  the  men  of  an  enlightened  City, 
whose  estimate  of  liberal  art  and  science  keeps  pace 
w  ith  its  well-deserved  prosperity. 

Our  State  has  most  worthy  and  urgent  motive  to 
call  upon  her  children  that  they  do  not  sufler  her 
story  to  perisl  .  A  good  story  it  is,  and  an  honest. 
Much  of  it  is,  to  this  day,  untold :  unfortunately,  may 
never  be  told ;  the  material  is  beyond  our  reach.  Much 
is  still  within  our  reach,  though  fast  dissolving  into 
dust.  This  society  has  come  into  existence  just  in 
time  to  rescue  some  of  the  fragments  of  our  youthful 
annals  from  irrecoverable  oblivion ;  too  late  to  save 


^ 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


5 


the  ^vhole.  Would  that  .some  earlier  generatic.  had 
conceived  the  happy  thought  of  addre.s.sing  itself  to 
the  same  task,  when  full  stores  of  the  trea.sures  of 
o-ir  young  Antiquity  might-have  been  garnered  into 
a  magazine  safe  enough  to  deliver  them  unmutilated 
into  our  hands!  Once  secure  upon  the  threshold  of 
'h's  age,  so  no.eJ  for  iis  zeal  oi  inquirv,  its  love  of 
Illustration,  and  for  its  multitudinous  press,  we  mi-ht 
have  promised  the.se  annals  of  the  past  a  safe  tra'^is- 
iDission  to  all  posterity.  Whatsoever  relics  may  now 
come  to  us,  ^e  may  hope  to  speed  them  towards  that 
iarthost  (uturity  to  which  the  ambition  of  hi.story 
aspires:  no  Jot  diminisiitd  in  what  they  bring  to  our 
liands.—enlarged  rather,  and  made  more  veritable  by 
careful  collation  and  exposition. 

This  charge,  then,  these  older,  maturer  days  prefer 
against  that  unskilled,  neglectful  Former  Time  which 
had  not  the  wit  to  see,  nor  the  heart  to  value  the 
riches  of  our  Maryland  birth-day,  and  of  its  simple- 
minded  days  of  infancy :  this  charge  we  make  against 
that  Former  Time,  that  it  suffered  precious  chronicles 
to  moulder  in  dami  and  forgotten  crvpts,  and  not  less 
precious  legends  to  die  with  the  brains  that  nursed 
them. 

Let  this  arraignment  of  our  thoughtless  and  scant 
Antiquity  go  to  the  heart  of  this  present  time,  by  way 
of  exhortation  to  incite  it  to  the  labor  stilt  of  redeem- 
ing what  is  not  yet  utterly  gone. 


G 


niSCOURSR  ON  TIIR  I.IFK  ANU 


! 


The  history  of  our  Ameriean  settlcrnrnt  has  an  in- 
terest of  a  difTerent  character  from  that  of  all  other 
history.  It  is  not  the  interest  of  narrative  nor  of  per- 
sonal fortune,  in  any  grea't  degree,  nor  of  important  or 
striking  combinations  of  events.  It  is  chiefly,  almost 
exclusively,  that  which  belongs  to  the  study  of  the 
development  of  moral  power,  the  contemplation  of 
great  results  springing  from  obscure  and  apparently 
feeble  causes.  It  shows  us  men  deliberately  planning 
the  foundations  of  free  government;  men  self-depend- 
ent, endowed  with  the  energy  of  homely  good  sense, 
and  educated  to  their  task,  if  not  by  a  wise  experi- 
ence in  the  arts  of  good  government,  at  least  by  i\ 
painful  knowledge  of  the  evils  which  flow  from  the 
neglect  of  them ;  men  springing  from  the  lap  of  a  high 
civilization,  and  called  to  their  labor  at  a  period 
when  the  mind  of  the  nation  to  which  they  be- 
lon'^ed  was  stirred  by  an  extraordinary  impulse  to 
forward  this  achievement,  and  which  was  able  to 
communicate  the  loftiest  spirit  to  those  who  under- 
took it. 

The  annals  of  this  settlement  are  generally  clear 
and  authentic.  They  are,  in  greater  part,  preserved 
in  official  State  papers,  or  in  memoirs  scarcely  less 
to  be  respected.  The  deeds  of  the  actors  are  often 
written  in  full  detail.  There  is  little  room  for  legend- 
ary exaggeration.  The  men  who  engaged  to  lead 
these  enterprises  were  as  brave,  as  wise,  as  capable 
as  any  builders  of  empire  in  any  past  time.  More 
capable,  more  wise,  we  may  say,  than  the  founders 
of  older  dynasties, — being  enlightened  men  of  an 
enlightened  age,  taught  in  all  that  Christianity  could 
teach, — and  not  less  brave  and  hardy  than  the  hardi- 
est and  bravest  of  antiquity. 


' 


CHARACTEH  OK  UEORUE  CALVKKT.  ^ 

Still  their  history  supplies  no  great  attraction  by 
its  incidents.     It  falls  too  much  into  the  character  of 
meagre  individual  memoir,  has  too  little  of  that  pomp 
of  scenery,  decoration,  prettige,  and  grouping  which 
charm  in  the  history  of  the  old  nations  of  the  world. 
The  fortunes  of  a  handful  of  adventurers  tempting,  for 
the  first  time,  the  vast  desert  of  waters,  and  flying  upon 
the  wings  of  stormy  winds  to  the  urvknown  haven 
of  an  inhospitable  coast,  and  finally  planting  a  home 
in  the  wilderness,  where  no  foot-print  was  seen  that 
was  not  hostile,  may  furnish  pictures  for  the  painter's 
study,  and  warm  the  poet's  fancy,— but  they  will  be 
(bund  to  want  the  breadth,  variety,  and  significance 
necessary  to  render  them  the  most  engaging  theme 
for  the  historian.     I  confess  I  weary  somewhat  over 
these  details  of  Indian  strategy  and  cunning;  these 
sad  shifts  to  supply  the  wants  of  a  ship's  company 
seeking  for  food;  these  mutinies  and  miserable  dis- 
sensions bred  by  meaner  spirits  incapable  of  enduring 
the  griefs  of  their  solitude;  these  stealthy  ambus^ 
cades;  these  murders  and  treasons  which  make  up 
so  much  of  the  staple  of  early  colonial  story.     He 
must  be  gifted  with  a  happy  skill  who,  with  such 
materials  only,  can  weave  a  tale  which  shall  make 
men  fond  of  coming  back  to  its  perusal. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  peculiar  philosophical  in- 
terest in  the  observation  of  this  course  of  empire;  an 
interest  abiding  more  in  the  theme  than  in  the  par- 
ticulars of  its  illustration.  Amongst  many  specula- 
tions, we  read  in  it  the  solution  of  a  problem  of  high 
import :— What  are  the  tendencies,  longings,  instincts 
of  the  human  family,  when  committed  to  the  destiny 
of  a  new  world,  and  challenged  to  the  task  of  con- 
structing government :— especially   what  are   these 


gje-J! 


8 


PISCUURSfi  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


instincts  in  some  certaiii  races  of  that  family  7     Mar- 
vellously lias  tliat  problem  been  solved  over  this  wide 
Western    Continent ;— is    now   continually   solving. 
Marvellously  do  we  still^o  on  demonstrating  that 
probleu),  and  are  yet  very  far  from  the  end  of  it. 
Survey  that  wide  field,  bounded  north  and  south  by 
Labrador   and  Terra  del   Fuego ;    and  of   all   the 
millions  that  .there  inhabit,  how   surely   shall   you 
recognise  them  by  their  several   social  polities,  not 
less  express  and  notable  than  their  individual  tempe- 
rament, complexion,  and  outward  form!     We  hear 
much  of  late  of  the  Anglo-Saxon— Norman-Saxon,  or 
Dano-Saxon,  rather  should  we  call  him— marching 
to  fulfil  a  destiny.    He  was  the  la«t  man  who  entered 
this  broad  field :  he  is  now,  in  less  than  three  cen- 
turies, master  of  all.    By  his  sufferance,  only,  does  the 
descendant  of  the  Goth,  the  Frank,  or  native  man  of 
America  cultivate  a  nook  of  land.     Imperious  lord 
of  the  continent,  he  waits  but  upon  his  own  pleasure 
to  circumvent  or  conquer  all. 

Time  had  rolled  through  fifty  recorded  centuries 
numbered  in  human  annals,  and  along  that  track 
History  had  duly  set  up  monuments  to  mark  the  pro- 
gression of  the  sons  of  men  from  the  Genesis  to  the 
Flood,— from  the  Flood  to  the  Dispersion,— from  the 
Disf.ersion  to  the  Birth  of  the  Saviour,— and  thence 
right  onward,  through  many  a  lesser  epoch,  to  the 
Discovery  of  the  New  World. 

This  last  era,  far  from  being  the  least  note- worthy 
in  the  series,  was,  in  fact,  the  opening  of  one  of  the 
most  momentous  chapters  in  the  book  of  Human 
Destiny.  It  was  the  revealing  of  a  second  creation, 
full  of  young  lustihood,  to  an  overwrought  and  strife- 
tormented  old  one.     It  contained  surface  and  sup- 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT.  ft 

ply  for  tribes  more  numerous  than  all  that  dwelt 
upon  the  Eastern  Hemisphere.  It  gave  to  man  a 
fresh  nursmg  mother,  into  whose  lap  he  might  aing 

'ev  sh".T«   ^''i''""  "•^'^  ''"■'  «^^"^'^^  ^hat  therf 
Uiey  should  find  the  aliment  to  rear  them  to  a  mighty 

manhood.     It  offered  him  another  starting  poin'  in 

the  career  of  civilization;  laid  open  to  him  new  and 

gemal  labors;  awakened  new  impulses  in  his  heart; 

seiritzt:r  "^  ""^^^^'^"^  ^^  ^"*^'  ^^'^^y' 

We  are  somewhat  struck  in   the  history  of  this 
great  event,  that  it  did  not  at  once  agitate  the  public 

grandeur  of  the  Discovery,  and  its  obvious  relation  to 
the  conditmn  of  mankina,  we  have  reason  to  be  sur- 
prised at  the  tardiness  of  men  to  avail  themselves  of  it 
rrll\.T  h'T""^  '^^'  amongst  the  multitudes 
, "  n  '  ";'''"  '\'  """'^'^^^  °^  ^"^«P^.  chafed  with  the 
harness  of  ever-flu^rant  war,  and  sadly  experienced 
m  IS  desolation  and  its  hopeless  poverty,  drds 
would  have  been  found  at  once  to  supply  a  steady 
stream  of  population  to  these  trans-atlanti  J  solitudes^ 
-most  happy  to  accept  the  invitation  of  Providence 
to  exchange  hunger  and  strife  for  peace  and  plenty. 

Nearly  a  century,  however,  passed  away  before 
colonization  and  settlement  began  to  make  an  effect- 

The  7ZT"'- ,  ^'r  "°^^  ^'^"^^^^"^^  '"^-••--  oyer 
the  fate  of  mankind  are  not  the  most  visible  to  agitate 

the  surface  of  human  affairs.     As  great  strength    ! 

often  marked  by  repose,  so  great  events  often'work 

out  their  effects  unnoted  in  a  silent  lapse  of  time      It 

lias  been  said,  "Though  our  clock  strikes  when  there 

IS  a  change  from  hour  to  hour,  no  hammer  in  the 

Horologe  of  Time  peals  through  the  universe  to  pro- 


ijbi 


10 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


claim  that  there  is  a  change  from  Era  to  Era."  In 
comparative  silence  d'J  this  great  era  unfold  itself— 
slowly  through  a  hundred  years.  A  hundred  years, 
after  the  voyages  of  Coliirhbus  and  Cabot,  were  given 
to  enterprises,  with  but  few  exceptions,  of  uiere 
exploration:— blind  struggles  to  get  deeper  insight 
into  this  world  of  wonders.  The  Frenchman,  the 
Spaniard,  the  Florentine,  and  the  Portuguese,  were 
the  navigators.  Until  the  voyage  of  Frobisher,  in 
1576,  England — even  then  a  predominant  pov/er  on 
the  o'-ean- had  but  little  share  in  this  great  work. 
North  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  no  colony  had  been 
planted  during  all  this  century,  except  the  small  set- 
tlement of  Jacques  Cartier  in  Canada.  Ribault  had 
made  an  unsuccessful  effort  in  Florida;  and  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  a  still  more  unfortunate  one  to  plant 
Virginia.  This  was  all  that  the  sixteenth  century 
contributed  in  the  way  of  settlement  to  make  the 
Discovery  useful  to  mankind.  It  is  quite  remarkable 
that  England  should  have  done  so  little. 

But  the  seventeenth  century  came  with  a  fresh  and 
sudden  ardor  of  adventure,  and  was  distinguished  by 
a  steady,  systematic  pursuit  of  the  policy  of  coloniza- 
tion. During  that  and  the  succeeding  age,  America 
became  incorporated  into  the  political  relations  of 
Europe,  became  a  well  recognised  power  in  the 
adjustment  of  the  interests  of  States,  supplied  the 
commerce,  even  partook  of  the  wars  of  the  Old 
World,  and  finally  matured  those  plans  of  social 
polity,  which  have  since  had  such  visible  and  author- 
itative influence  in  giving  to  mankind  new  perceptions 
of  their  own  rights,  and  new  views  of  the  purposes 
and  obligations  of  government. 

The  general  scheme  and  progress  of  our  coloniza- 


mm 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


11 


i 


tion  exhibits  to  us  a  great  historical  Epic.     It  had  its 
age  of  adventure,— its  age  of  commerce,-and  its  age 
of  religious  impulse :  and  there  predominated  throuo-h- 
out  its  entire  action— linking  the  whole  together  a'nd 
impartmg  to  it  what  we  may  call  its  mystical'  and 
predestmed  completeness— a  very  visible  conspiracy 
of    means   to  afford   mankind  the  experience    and 
enjoyment   of   a   peculiar   trans-atlantic    system   of 
empire,  differing  in  its   essential   features   from   all 
established  polities.    We  may  discern  in  it  the  dawn- 
ing of  a  new  consciousness  of  higher  temporal  destiny 
for  man ;  the  first  movement  towards  the  establish- 
ment of  social  organisation  on  a  plan  to  diffuse  power 
and   the   .acuity  of  self-advancement  amongst  the 
great  masses  of  the  j)eople,  to  a  degree  never  before 
thought  of,  that  plan  not  altogether  defined  in  the 
conceptions  of  those  first  engaged  in  the  exploit,  but 
gradually  transpiring  with  the  course  of  events,  and 
finally  taking  its  appointed  shape  under  the  resistless 
control  of  circumstances  which  Providence  seems  to 
have  made    the  guide  to  this  grand  and  beneficent 
end. 

In  the  first  of  these  periods,— that  age  of  adven- 
ture,—men  seem  to  have  been  impelled  by  the  .spirit 
of  an  excited  knight  errantry.  Before  them  lay  a 
world  of  novelties.  The  path  that  led  to  it  was  beset 
by  dangers  to  allure  the  pride  of  the  daring  The 
field  of  their  labor  w%is  full  of  marvels  to  captivate 
the  heart  of  the  credulous.  Renown  awaited  the 
explorer  who  could  bring  new  contributions  to  the 
stock  of  foreign  miracles  which  so  charmed  that 
wonder-loving  time.  Many  courageous  spirits  enlist- 
ed in  this  quest  of  fame.  They  brought  home  tidings 
of  nations  gorgeous  in  gold  and  silver,  and  precious 


12 


DfSCOURSK  ON  THE  MEE  AND 


4  ' 


stones.    Riches  findess,  in  their  report,  lay  open  to 
the  brave  liand  that  should  be  first  stretched  forth  to 
win  them.     The  ear  of  Ch  istendom  was  enthralled 
by  tales,  which  we  should  think  now  too  light  even 
for  the  credulity  of  childhood,  of  an  imaginary  city, 
sparkling  with  more  than  Arabian  magnificence;  of 
mysterious  fountains,  capable  of  renewing  youth  in 
the  pulse  of  decrepit  age  ;*    of  relics  of  ancient  gene- 
rations, whose  abodes  rivalled  the  glories  of  Heliopolis 
or  Thebes.     Inflamed  by  such  visions,  the  cavaliers 
of  the  sixteenth  century  launched  their  barks  upon 
the  rough  Atlantic    and   sped   to   its  farther  shore, 
with  resolve  to  carva  their  crests  upon  this  magnifi- 
cent  continent :— Knights  errant  of  the  sea,— a  ro- 
mantic, wave-tempting  chivalry,  bred  to  the  courtesies 
which  the  fanciful  gallantry  of  the  Court  of  Elizabeth 
held  up  to  admiration  in  Raleigh  and  Essex,  Effing- 
ham and  Howard,  yet  brave  as  the  old  Norse  Sea 
Kings,  and  credulous  as  children. 

Such  is  the  argument  and  these  the  personages  of 
the  first  book  of  this  wonderful  Epic.     Illusions  like 

•  "  It  was  not,"  says  Irving,  in  a  note  to  his  Narrative  of  the  Adventures  of 
Juan  Ponc'^  de  Leon,  in  quest  of  the  Miraculous  Fountain,  "the  credulous 
minds  of  voyagers  and  adventurers  alone  that  were  heated  bythece  Indian  tradi- 
tions  and  romantic  fables.  Men  of  learning  and  eminence  were  likewise  be- 
guiled by  them  :  witness  the  following  extract  from  the  second  decade  of  Peter 
Martyr  addressed  to  Leo  X,  then  bishop  of  Rome : 

"  \mong  the  islands  on  the  north  sideof  HispanioJa,  there  is  one  aoout  325 
leagues'  distance,  as  they  say  which  have  searched  the  same,  in  which  is  a  con- 
tinual spring  of  running  water,  of  such  marvellous  virtue,  that  the  water  thereof 
being  drunk,  perhaps  with  some  diet,  raaketh  old  men  young  again.  And  here 
I  must  make  protestation  to  your  holiness  not  to  think  this  to  be  said  lightly  or 
rashly  for  they  have  so  spread  this  rumor  for  a  truth  throughout  all  the  court,  that 
njt  only  all  the  people,  but  also  many  of  them  whom  wisdom  or  fortune  hath 
divided  from  the  cunmon  sort,  think  it  to  be  true:  but.  if  you  will  ask  my 
opinion  herein,  I  will  answer  that  I  will  not  attribute  so  great  power  to  nature, 
but  that  God  hath  no  less  reserv«d  this  prerogative  to  himself  than  to  search  the. 
htartsofmfn."     Foyugfs  o/Mf  Companions  o/Co/«m6«s,  p.  .314. 


CHARACTBH  OF  liEORGE  CALVERT. 


13 


4 
I 


these  could  not  long  endure.  The  age  of  commercial 
action  came,  with  its  practical  tiense  and  sober  judg- 
ment of  realities,  to  measure  and  gauge  the  new  con- 
tinent by  the  most  unromantic  of  all  standards.  The 
astute  London  merchant  followed  in  the  wake  of  the 
soldier  enthusiast,  and  set  himself  to  the  lask  of  com- 
puting what  America  was  capable  of  yielding  to  the 
enlargement  of  trade.  This  computation  of  the  prac- 
ticable, ever,  in  the  end,  tlte  most  effective  friend  of 
civilization,  soon  began,  though  not  without  many 
drawbacks,  to  produce  its  good  fruits  in  the  enter- 
prise which  it  fostered  and  controlled.  The  search 
of  El  Dorado  was  abandoned:  the  fountain  of 
Bimini  was  forgotten :  the  emigrant  was  provided 
with  axe  and  plough,  and  after  some  severe  trial  and 
disappointment,  was  taught  the  lesson  that  compe- 
tence, and,  in  the  end,  affluence  were  to  be  won  by 
diligent  cultivation  of  the  soil ; — were,  in  no  wise,  to 
be  hoped  for  in  rambling  on  the  search  of  mines  of 
gold  and  precious  stones,  in  sacking  cities  or  laying 
waste  the  territory  of  weak  barbarians. 

Religion,  as  I  have  said,  also  had  its  share  in  the 
progress  of  colonization.  Fanaticism  had  reared  a 
bloody  ensign  over  the  fields  of  Europe.  The  Thirty 
Years'  War,  the  civil  broils  of  England,  the  murder- 
ous dissensions  of  Ireland,  the  universal  intolerance 
of  jarring  sectaries,  wrought  such  distraction,  that 
thousands,  in  despaii-  of  peace  at  home,  gathering 
their  wives  and  children,  their  friends  and  servants 
together,  sought  this  new  sky  and  these  rough  shades, 
with  scarce  other  hope  or  purpose  but  to  enjoy  that 
unmolested  worship  which  was  denit  them  in  the 
temples  of  their  native  land. 

This  is  a  bare  outline  of  the  history  of  American 


14 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


»i 


settlement.     I  Iiave  sketched  it  off  in  tliis  rapid  form 
of  review,  by  way  of  introduction  to  a  topic  which  it 
was  my  desij^n  to  present  to  your  attention  this  even- 
in".     My  purpose  is  to  offer  some  views  of  the  original 
settlement  of  Maryland,  connected  with  the  character 
of  the  founder  of  the  State.    The  theme  is  not  unfami- 
liar either  to  this  society  or  to  this  auditory.     It  has 
recently,  more  than  once,  invoked  the  labor  of  ac- 
complished minds  amongst  us.     I  trust,  however,  that 
in  recurring  to  it,  1  shall  not  be  found  to  weary  your 
patience,  as  I  venture  to  hope  in  what  I  have  to  say, 
I  shall  not  be  led   to  repeat  after  those  who  have 
better  said,  what  it  fell  in  their  way  to  discuss,  than  I 
could  hope  to  do  were  my  reflections  conducted  mto 
the  same  channel. 

Maryland  was  originally  planted  and  grew  up  mto 
importance  as  a  colony  under  the  genial  impulses 
proper  to  the  best  days  of  that  commercial  era  of 
which  I  have  spoken.  The  original  settlement  par- 
took, in  no  degree,  cf  the  illusions  of  romantic  adven- 
ture' Nor  did  it  owe  its  conception,  either  to  religious 
persecution,  or  to  that  desire  which  is  supposed  to 
have  influenced  other  colonies  to  form  a  society  dedi- 
cated to  the  promotion  of  a  particular  worship.  TJus, 
I  am  aware,  is  contrary  to  a  very  generally  received 
opinion.  It  is  mv  purpose,  in  what  I  am  about  to 
offer,  to  produce  some  proofs  of  the  assertions  I  have 

just  made. 

This  province,  I  think  I  shall  show,  was  founded, 
chiefly,  in  accordance  with  a  liberal  plan  to  erect  a 
community  on  this  continent,  which,  while  it  should 
afford  a  happy  home  to  those  who  might  make  it  their 
abode,  securing  to  them  all  the  privileges  of  the  most 
favored  subjects  of  the  British  Crown,  aimed,  at  the 


CHAOACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALV'iRT. 


15 


san.e  time,  to  promote  the  objects  of  a  wise  and  benefi- 
cent commercial  speculation.  The  merit  of  this  plan- 
tation is  due  to  Sir  George  Calvert,  the  first  Lord 
Baltimore.  There  is  no  man  distinguished  by  so 
large  and  active  a  participation  in  the  colonial  history 
of  this  Country  of  whom  so  few  memorials  remain  in 
published  records.  It  is,  ifj  part,  the  reproach  of  our 
State,  that  so  little  is  known  of  him.  For  there  is 
good  reason  to  believe  that  manuscripts  and  other 
relics  of  his  history  exist,  which  have  not  been  brought 
to  our  notice  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic*     We  may 


•  Wood,  in  the  Atbenae  Oxonienses,  refers  to  the  following  writings  of  Cal- 
vert : — 

Carmen  Fup^bre  in  D.  Hen.  Untonum,  ad  Gallos  bis  legatum,  Printed  1596: 
Parliamentary  Speeches :  Various  Letters  of  State  :  The  Answer  of  Thcmas 
Tell  Troth  :  The  Practice  of  Princes,  and  Lamentations  of  the  Kirk,  Printed 
London,  1642. 

He  also,  says  Wood,  wrote  something  concerning  Maryland. 

The  Sir  Henry  Unton  above  referred  to,  is  better  known  as  Sir  Henry  ITmp- 
ton,  who,  being  sent  by  Elizabeth  as  Ambassador  to  France,  was  somewhat 
celebrated  for  his  chivalrous  bearing,  according  to  the  fashion  of  that  time,  1592, 
in  resenting  a  supposed  insult  offered  by  the  Duke  of  Guise  to  the  Queen. 
He  sent  the  Duke  the  following  challenge: 

"  For  as  much  as  lately,  in  the  lodging  of  my  Lord  Du  Mayne,  and  in  public 
elsewhere,  impudently,  indiscreetly,  and  over  boldly,  you  spoke  badly  of  my 
sovereign,  whose  sacred  person  here,  in  this  country,  I  represent:  to  maintain 
both  by  word  and  weapon  her  honor,  (which  never  was  called  in  question 
amongst  people  of  honesty  and  virtue;)  I  say  you  have  wickedly  lied,  in  speak- 
ing so  basely  of  my  soveieign  ;  and  you  shall  do  nothing  else  but  lie  whenever 
you  shall  dare  to  tax  her  honor.  Moreover,  that  her  sacred  person,  (being  one 
of  the  most  complete  and  virtuouj  princesses  that  live  in  the  world,)  ought  not 
to  be  evil  spoken  of  by  the  tongue  of  such  a  perfidious  traitor  to  her  law  and 
country  as  you  are.  And,  hereupon,  I  do  defy  you,  and  challenge  your  person 
to  mine,  with  such  manner  of  arras  as  you  shall  like  or  choose,  be  it  either  on 
horseback  or  on  foot.  Nor  would  I  have  you  to  think  any  inequality  of  person 
between  us,  I  being  issued  of  as  great  a  race  and  noble  house  (every  way)  as 
yourself.  So,  assigning  me  an  indifferent  place,  I  ivill  there  maintain  my  words 
and  the  lie  which  1  gave  you,  and  which  you  should  not  endure  if  you  have  any 
courage  at  all  in  you.  If  you  consent  not  to  meet  me  hereupon,  I  will  hold  you, 
and  cause  you  generally  to  be  held,  for  the  arrantest  coward  and  most  slanderous 
slave  that  lives  in  France.    I  expect  your  answer." 

Sir  Henry  died  in  the  French  camp  in  1596,  and  his  body  being  brought  to 
London,  was  removed  to  Farringdon,  and  buried  there  on  the  8th  day  of  July  of 


16 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


hope  that  to  the  research  of  this  Society,  our  State 
may  hereafter  become  indebted  for  their  production 
and  publication. 

According  to  Anthony  Wood,  ir.  his  Athenae  Oxo- 
nienses,  Calvert  was  born  in  1582,  at  Kipling,  in  the 
Chapelry  of  BoUom,  in  Yorkshire,  and  was  the  son  of 
Leonard    Calvert    and    Alice,    daughter    of    John 
Crossland.      Fuller  with  more  probability,  I  think, 
dates  his  birth  in  the  year  1580.     The  author  of  the 
Worthies  of  England  was  his  contemporary,  though 
thirty  years  his  junior,  and,  it  is  of  some  moment  to 
my  argument  to  remark,  was  obviously  not  person- 
ally acquainted  with   him.     Both  from  Wood   and 
Fuller  we  learn  that  in  1597,  Calvert  took  a  bache- 
lor's degree  at  Oxford,  and  then  visited  the  continent 
of  Europe  to  com  plete  his  studies,  and  procure  the 
advantages  of  travel,  as  was  customary  to  young  men 
of  birth  and  fortune  at  that  period. 

It  is  said  that  he  attracted  the  regard  of  Sir  Robert 
Cecil,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  afterwards  Earl  of  Salis- 
bury : — a  fact  that  we  may  suppose  he  designed  to 
acknowledge  in  the  name  given  to  his  eldest  son. 
This  son,  Cecil,  was  born  in  1606,  as  I  find  from  an 
original  portrait  engravin  of  him  in  my  possession— 
for  which  I  am  indebteu  to  a  friend,  a  valuable  mem- 
ber pf  this  Society. 


This  engraving  enables  us  to  fix 


that  year.  The  elegy  or  Carmen  Funebre  above  referred  to,  *as  written  by 
Calvert,  at  a  very  early  age,  and  was  most  probably  a  college  exercise.  See 
Fuller's  Worthies,  1  vol.  p.  131. 

It  is  said  by  Belknap,  that  CaUert  "left  something  respecting  America  in 
writing,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  it  was  ever  printed."  I  find  also  a  refer- 
ence by  Bozman,  1  vol.  240,  to  the  Bibliotheca  Americana,  published  in  Lon- 
don, 1789,  which  menUons  a  MS.,  entitled  "Account  of  the  Settlement  of 
Newfoundland,  by  Sir  George  Calvert." 

Some  insight  may  perhaps  be  obtained  to  a  portion  of  these  writings,  by  an 
examination  of  the  Maryland  Papers,  in  the  office  ol  the  Plantations  in  Loudon, 
referred  to  frequently  by  Chalmers.— See  also  the  Sirafford  Pupers. 


CHARACTER  OP  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


1/ 


the  marriage  of  Calvert  about  the  year  1604-5,— his 
twenty-third  or  twenty-fifth  year,  as  we  compute  it 
according  to  the  different  dates  of  Wood  r.nd  Fuller. 
He  married  Anne,  the  daughter  of  George  Mynue 
of  Hertfordshire,  and  grand-daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Wroth  of  Durance  in  Enfield,  Middlesex,— a  gentle- 
man  of  some  distinction  in  his  time. 

About  the  year  1606,  he  experienced  a  substantial 
proof  of  the  prime  minister's  friendship,  in  the  g.ift  of 
an  appointment  to  the  ofllice  of  under  or  private  sec- 
retary to  the  minister  himself,  which  he  held  for 
several  years. 

Three  years  afterwards— 1609— his  name  appears 
as  one  of  the  patentees  in  the  new  charter,  which 
was  then  given  to  the  company  for  planting  Virginia ; 
and  I  find  it  again  enumerated  in  Captain  Smith's  list 
of  the  members  of  that  company  in  1620,  showing 
that  during  all  this  interval  ho  was  interested  in  the 
settlement  of  that  colony. 

The  Earl  of  Salisbury  died  in  1612,  after  which 
event  Calvert  seems  to  have  enjoyed  a  liberal  share 
of  the  favor  and  regard  of  King  James,  who,  in  1617, 
promoted  him  to  the  post  of  clerk  of  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil, and  invested  him  with  the  honor  of  knighthood. 
Two  years  later,  1619,  the  king  appointed  him  prin- 
cipal Secretary  of  State  as  the  successor  to  Sir 
Thomas  Lake;  which  place  he  held  until  1624,  when 
he  resigned  it,  according  to  Fuller,  for  the  following 
reason:— -'He  freely  confessed  himself  to  the  king 
that  he  was  then  become  a  Roman  Catholic,  so  tha^t 
he  must  be  wanting  to  his  trust  or  violate  his  con- 
science in  discharging  his  office.  This,  his  inge- 
nuity"-adds  Fuller-"  so  highly  affected  king  James 
that  he  continued  him  privy  couns.Hor  all  his  reign, 


18 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


^^.% 


as  appearetli  in  the  council  books,  and  scon  after 
created  liim  Lord  Baltimore,  of  Baltinrore  in  Ireland." 
As  a  further  testimony  of  the  bounty  of  his  sove- 
reign ''  is  recorded  of  him  that  James  gave  him  a 
grant  of  lands  in  Ireland,*  and  also  a  pension  of  one 
thousand  pounds.     "  During  his  being  Secretary,"— 
says  Fuller,—"  he  had  a  patent  to  him  and  his  heirs, 
to  be  Absolutus  Dominm  et  Proprietaritis,  with  the 
royalties  of  a  Count  Palatine,  of  the   province  of 
Avalon,  in  Newfoundland.     Here  he  built  a  fair  house 
in  Ferryland,  and  spent  five  and  twenty  thousand 
pounds  in  advancing  the  plantation  thereof.    Indeed, 
his  public  spirit"— the  biographer  continues—"  con- 
sulted not  his  private  profit,  but  the  enlargement  of 
Christianity  and  the  king's  dominions."t 

Th^  settlement  in  Newfoundland,  alluded  to  in  tnis 
extract,  was  made  in  1621  ;  in  which  year,  according 
to  the  account  of  Oldmixon,  in  his  British  Empire  in 
America,t  Sir  George  Calvert  sent  Captain  Wynn 
thither  with  a  small  colony.  In  1622,  Captain  Wynn 
was  reinforced  with  an  additional  number  of  colonists. 
The  charter  or  grant,  however,  for  this  plantation,  it 

•  "The  King  being  given  to  understand  that  divers  towns  and  lands  within  the 
late  plantation  of  Longford,  amounting  to  about  two  thousand  three  hundred  and 
four  acres,  remained  in  his  hands  undisposed  of,  he  con.e.red  the  «ame  o  S^ 
George  Culvert,  his  principal  Secretary,  a.  a  person  worthy  o£*.s  royal  bouny. 
and  one  that  wcul.l  plant  and  build  the  same  according  to  h.s  late  .nstructions  for 
Jhe  bet  e  trtherance  and  strengthening  of  the  said  plantation  "  The  grant  was 
accordingly  made  18th  Febraary,1621.    This  patent  Calvert  " --"<>"^'1J° 

he  King  12th  February,  1624  (1625  according  to  the  present  calendar)    a^d 
had  a  re  grant  thereof  in  fee-simple,  d.ted  at  Westminster,  11th  Mar^h  follow 
L  to  hold  as  the  Castle  of  Dubhn  in  free  and  common  soccage,  by  fealty  only 
fJr  a  I  other  rents,  w.th  the  erection  of  the  premises  .n  the  Barony  ol  Longlord 

1  the  manor  oi'  Balfmore,  and  those  in  the  Barony  of  Rath.yne  .nto  the 

Unor  of  Ulford,  with  the  usual  privileges  of  Courts,  Parks,  free  warren.  &c. 

London  Magazine,  June,  1768. 

\  fVorthies  of  England,  vo\.  3,  [>■  il^- 

J  Botman's  Maryland,  vol.  1,  p.  210,  note. 


CHARACTER  OF  GE«>HGii  CALVERT. 


19 


is  said,  upon  some  doubtful  and  rather  obscure  testi- 
mony, bears  date  of  the  twenty-lirst  year  of  the 
King,  which  would  assign  it  to  the  year  1623.  After 
the  death  of  James,  which  was  in  1625,  Lord  Balti- 
more went  twice  to  Avalon.  "  Here,"— says  Fuller 
again — "  when  Monsieur  de  L'Arade,  with  three  men 
of  war,  sent  from  the  King  of  France,  had  reduced  our 
English  fishermen  to  great  extremity,  this  lord,  with 
two  ships,  manned  at  his  own  charge,  chased  away 
the  Frenchman,  relieved  the  English,  and  took  sixty 
of  the  French  prisoners."  It  is  related  by  Oldmixon 
and  others,  that  Lord  Baltimore  removed  his  family 
to  Ferryland,  and  resided  there  some  few  years. 
This  establishment  being  found  to  be  ungenial,  both 
in  climate  and  soil,  being  subject  to  great  annoyance 
from  the  French,  and  withal  exceedingly  expensive. 
Lord  Baltimore  finally  abandoned  it,  and  turned  his 
thoughts  upon  settlement  in  a  milder  latitude,  and 
on  a  more  kindly  soil. 

He  was  a  member,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  Virginia 
Company, — had  been  a  member  for  eleven  years,  and, 
perhaps,  longer:  besides  thi.s,  as  Secretary  of  State, — 
Chahnerc  tells  us — he  was  officially  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Council  for  the  affairs  of  the  plantations. 
We  may  presume,  therefore,  that  he  was  fully  acquaint- 
ed with  the  proceedings  of  the  Virginia  company,  and 
well  versed  in  all  that  belonged  to  the  subject  of 
colonization.  Thus  qualified  for  his  enterprise,  he 
turned  his  attention  towards  Virginia,  with  an  un- 
divulged  purpose,  as  we  may  suppose  from  what 
afterwards  occurred,  to  examine  the  regions  within 
the  charter  of  that  plantation,  which  had  not  yet 
been  settled.  Accordingly,  in  1628,  he  visited  Vir- 
ginia   in    person.      It  has    been    said    that    he   was 


20 


OISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  ANl> 


L'1 


received  very  ungraciously  by  the  assembly  of  that 
colony,  who  directed  the  oaths  .of  allegiance  and  su- 
premacy to  be  tendered  to  him  and  his  followers. 
This  incident  would  seem  to  show  that  the  assembly 
did  not  look  upon  Lord  Baltimore  in  the  light  of  a 
mere  casual  visiter;  that  they  suspected  h's  intentions 
in  regard  to  settlement,  and  were  jealous  of  them: 
that,  actuated  by  this  sentiment,  they  subjected  him 
>()  w  hat  amounted  almost  to  an  indignity,  in  requiring 
him  to  take  t)ie  oaths ; — requiring  him.  who  had  been 
a   Secretary  of  State,  who  was  one  of  their  own 
patentees  in  the  London  Company,  and  who  was  a 
public  spirited  nobletnan,  somewhat  distinguished  for 
his  enterprise  in  the  cause  of  colonization;  who,  in 
addition  to  all  this,  was  on  the  best  terms  with  the 
reigning  sovereign  at  home.     With  a  proper  sense  of 
self-respect,  Lord  Baltimore  refused  to  take  the  oaths, 
or  to  allow  his  servants  to  take  them,  and  very  soon 
afterwards  departed  from  the  James  River,  to  pursue 
a  much  more  agreeable  voyage  up  the  Chesapeake, 
in  quest  of  the  unoccupied   territory,   to  which  his 
thoughts  had  most  probably  been  directed  from  the 
first.     Under    these   circumstances,   he  entciid   the 
Potomac,  examined  the  country  upon  its  left  bank, 
and  projected  his  settlement  of  the  province  of  Mary- 
land. '  ■ 

I  need  not  rela^te  by  what  steps  he  contrived  to 
secure  the  grant  for  this  province.  It  was  clearly 
within  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  charter;  parts  of  it 
were  actually  setlled— Kent  Island  especially; — yet 
he  had  influence  and  address  to  obtain  the  grant  from 
Charles  the  First.  I  need  not  relate  either  what 
great  dissatisfaction  this  grant  gave  to  the  colonists 
of.  Virginia — to  those  very  persons  who  had  so  un- 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


21 


r5 

I 


civilly  exacted  the  oaths  of  allegiance.     We  of  Mary- 
land, at  least,  have  no  reason  to  regret  that  this  pri's- 
tine  and  most  incompatible  breach  of  hospitality  in 
Virginia,  should  have  been  followed  by  such  a  retri- 
bution— one  in  n^hich  we  perceive  almost  a  poetical 
justice.     It  concerns  my  purpose  merely  to  advert  to 
the  fact  that,  in  1632,  King  CharU-s  gave  hi^?  permis- 
sion  to  Lord  Baltimore  to  prepare  the  Charter  of 
Maryland.     That  fnstrument  was,  in    pursuance  of 
this  permission,  drawn  up,  it  is  said,  by  Calvert's  own 
hand,  or  under  his  personal   dictation.     Before   it 
passed  the  seals,  he  died— 25th  of  April,  1632— leav- 
ing Cecil  heir,  not  only  to  his  title  and  fortune,  but 
also  to  his  enterprise  and  his  hopes.     The  charter 
was  executed  on  the  20th  of  June  following,  with  no 
other  change  than  the  substitution  of  Cecil  for  his 
father;  and  whs  signed  by  the  King,  who,  himself, 
gave  the  province  the  name  of  Maryland,  in  honor  of 
his  Q,ueen  Henrietta  Maria,  instead  of  "  Crescentia," 
as  Lord  Baltimore  had  originally  designed. 

This  Charter  is  said  to  be  a  transcript,  with  no  other 
alteration  than  the  localities  required,  from  that 
which  had  before  been  granted  by  James,  for  the 
province  of  Avalon.*  Fuller's  brief  description  of 
the  Newfoundland  patent,  which  I  have  already 
quoted,  would  seem  to  confirm  this  fact. 

In  addition  to  what  I  have  brought  into  this  sum- 
mary of  Calvert's  history,  it  is  proper  to  notice  that 
in  1620  he  was  first  elected  to  Parliament  to  repre- 
sent Yorkshire,  througb  the  influence  of  the  celebrated 
Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  afterwards  Earl  of  Straf- 
ford: he  was  subsequently  elected  by  the  University 

•  Chalmers,  in  his  Histoiy  oi  the  Revolt  of  Oie  American  Colonies,  says  it 
WM  '<  literally  copied  from  the  prior  patent  of  Avalon."    Book  the  Second,  ch.  3. 


28 


DISCOUHSE  ON  THE  LIVE.  AND 


**'' 


of  Oxford.  His  parliamentary  career,  wliich  lasted 
four  or  five  years,  seems  to  have  been,  as  far  as  the 
scant  records  of  it  disclose  its  character,  at  least 
worthy  of  the  praise  of  a  diligent  and  upright  per- 
.brmance  of  the  duties  which  it  required  of  !iini.  We 
may  suppose  that  these  duties,  as  a  minister  of  state 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  were  by  no  means  light, 
and  that  they  demanded  the  frequent  exhibition  of  a 
high  order  of  knowledge,  tact  and  judgment.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  his  services  in  this  theatre  were 
entirely  acceptable  to  the  king. 

In  politics,  he  was  of  the  Court  Party  of  that  reign, 
opposed  to  the  Country  Party — designations  which 
subsequently  slid  into  those  of  Tory  and  Whig.  As 
one  of  this  party,  he  was  the  advocate  of  the  high 
kingly  Prerogative,  as  contradistinguished  from  the 
Privilege  of  the  Legislative  body ;  a  champion  of  Exe- 
cutive power,  again.st  the  power  of  parliament.  Not 
only  his  interest,  but  we  must  presume,  his  inclina- 
tions lay  in  that  way.  Grahanie  says  of  him,  what 
would  seem  almost  sarcastically  said,  that  "  he  was  a 
strenuous  asserter  of  the  supremacy  of  that  authority 
from  the  exercise  of  which  he  expected  to  derive  his 
own  enrichment."  I  will  not  do  him  the  wrong,  in 
the  absence  of  better  proof  than  we  have,  to  believe 
that  he  was  not  entirely  iiuaci-i  hi  maintaining  the 
prerogative  agj'inst  the  pooalar  privilege,  in  parlia- 
ment, we  fmd  him  asserting  the  doctrine,  "  that  the 
American  territory,  ha-ing  been  accjuired  by  con- 
quest, was  subject  exclusively  to  the  control  of  the 
royal  prerogative:"  in  other  words,  that  the  King, 
and  not  parliament,  had  the  entire  regulation  and 
government  of  the  colonies.  This,  with  many  other 
Ultra-monarchical  doctrines  of  that  day,  we  can  have 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


23 


I 


no  doubt  James  would  expect  his  ministers  to  defend  ; 
and,  though  highly  flattering  to  a  monarch  of  his 
character,  they  were  not,  however,  without  a  strong 
party  opposed  to  them,  even  in  the  parliament  of 
which  Sir  (ieorge  Calvert  was  a  member. 

The  facts  I  have  now  brought  to  view  demonstrate 
that  Lord  Baltimore  was  of  a  family  of  rank  and 
influence  in  England  ;*  that  he  was  wealthy,  as  the 
expenditure  of  £25.000  on  the  settlement  o<'  Avalon, 
a  very  large  sum  in  those  days,  would  show:  that 
having  married  early  in  life,  he  was  brought  into  the 
way  of  preferment  and  favor  through  the  friendship 
of  the  prime  minister;  that  his  personal  deport.-»ient, 
political  opinions,  habits  of  business  and  usefulness 
secured  him  the  regard  of  kin^   James,  a  pedantic 
and  hypercritical  asserter  of  the  broadest  pretensions 
of  kingly  government,— a  prince  whose  service  ex- 
acted an  earnest  defence  of  the  highest  claims  of  pre- 
rogative: that,  being  for  a  long  time  a  member  of  a 
couipany  concerned  in  the  colonization  of  Virginia, 
and,  moreover,  one  of  the  Connnittee  of  Council  for 
the  plantations,  he  had  ample  opportunities  to  become 
acquainted  vvkh  the  character  of  these  enterprises, 
and  to  embark  in  them  with  advantages  which  very 
few  possessed.  .  There  is  indeed  abundant  evidence 
that  these  schemes  of  colonization  were  a  favorite 
speculation  of  his.     He  was  engaged  in  them  from 
the  date  of  his  early  manhood  until  the  close  of  his 
life.     It   was   his  prevailing  passion,  if  we  may  so 
speak,  and  was  indulged  with  great  assiduity,  per- 
sonal   devotion,   and    at    heavy   pecuniary    charge. 

•  The  family  of  Calvert  is  said  to  be  descended  frow  an  ancient  and  noble 
house  of  that  name  in  the  Earldom  of  Flanders,  whence  they  were  transplanted 
into  the  northern  parts  of  England. 


24 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  HFE  AND 


4* 


There  is  no  evidence  that  his  ardor  in  these  under- 
takings was  stimulated  by  any  motive  having  refer- 
ence to  particular  religious  opinions.  We  are,  on 
the  contrary,  bound  to  presume  that  his  purpose  was 
in  part  the  advancement  of  his  own  reputation,  the 
increase  of  the  wealth  of  his  family,  and,  as  the  Mary- 
land charter  expresses  it,  "  a  laudable  and  pious  zeal 
for  extending  the  Christian  religion,  and  also  the  ter- 
ritories of  our  (the  British)  empire."  We  may  com- 
mend him  for  all  these  motives  as  in  their  nature 
honorable,  just  and  useful. 

He  obtained  from  James  the  charter  for  the  pro- 
vince of  Avalon ;  from  Charles  that  for  Maryland, — 
the  one  about  ten  years  before  the  other.  As  these 
charterji  fare  claimed  to  be  the  production  of  Lord 
Baltimore'.?  own  hand,  an  examination  of  that  to 
which  we  have  access,  our  own,  may  serve  to  give 
us  further  insight  into  the  history  of  the  author. 

Turning  to  this  instrument,  then,  we  may  remark 
that  it  embodies  a  scheme  of  the  strongest  govern- 
ment known  tliroughout  all  the  American  colonies. 

The  Proprietary  was  made  the  absolute  lord  of 
the  province,  saving  only  the  allegiance  due  by  him 
to  the  crown.  He  was  invested  with  prerogatives 
and  royal  rights,  not  inferior  to  those  of  the  king 
himself.  He  was  empowered  to  make  laws,  with  the 
advice  of  the  freemen,  and  to  withhold  his  assent 
from  such  as  he  did  not  approve.  The  Proprietary 
even  claimed  and  practised  in  the  course  of  the 
government  of  the  province,  the  right  to  dispense 
vv.ih  the  laws,  in  accordance  with  a  principle  as- 
serted by  king  James,  as  a  branch  of  the  royal 
prerogative,  and  which  we  may  conclude  was  con- 
sonant with   Lord    Baltimore's   own   opinions.     He 


t HAUACTER  OK  GKOHGE  CALVERT. 


25 


I 


was  authorized  to  create  manors  with  manorial  rights 
and  lordships;  to  reward  well  born   and  deserving 
subjects  with   titles  and  dignities;    to  summoti,   by 
writ,  as  we  find  by  early  practice  under  the  Charter, 
whatsoever  freemen  he  chose,  to  take  a  seat  in  the 
Legislative  Assembly,  without  election  by  the  people,* 
thus  enabling  him  to  control   the  majority  of  that 
body.     He  was  empowered  to  make  ordinances,  in 
certain  emergencies,  of  equal  force  with  laws,  and 
without  the  aid  or  confirmation   of  the    Assembly. 
He   had    t!ie   absolute   control  of  the  military    and 
naval  force  of  the  colony,  and   might  declare   and 
exercise  martial  law,  at  his  own  pleasure,  whenever 
he  should  conceive  rebellion  or  sudden  tumult  to  de- 
mand it.     He  possessed  the  patronage  aijd  advowsons 
of  all  churches,  and  had  the  sole  authority  to  license 
the  building  or  founding  of  churches  and  cluipels,  and 
to  cause  them  to   be  consecrated  according  to  the 
ecclesiastical  laws  of  England. 

In  regard  to  these  last  two  subjects,  I  beg  to 
observe  that  they  apply  strictly  and  exclusivefy  to 
the  Church  of  England,  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  The  advowson,  or  right  of  presentation  of  a 
minister  to  a  parish  or  ecclesiastical  benefice,  being 
only  a  right,  in  the  sense  of  this  Charter,  connected 
with  the  organization  of  that  church;  whilst  the  right 
to  license  the  consecration  of  churches  and  chapds 
is,  in  terms,  confined  to  such  as  were  to  be  con- 
secrated "according  to  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of 
England." 


•  The  language  ot  the  Charter,  regarding  the  summoning  of  delegates  is  •— 
"  Whom  we  will  shall  be  called  together  for  the  framing  of  Laws,  when  and  as 
onen  as  need  shall  require,  by  the  aforesaid  Baron  of  Baltimore  and  his  heirs 
and  III  the  form  vhirh  thnll  sfcm  the  h,'st  to  him  nr  ti,rm" 


26 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


4*\ 


!!' 


ii^ 


These  were  the  powers,  rights  and  prerogatives 
conferred  upon  the  F*roprietary.  On  the  other  hard, 
the  concessions  or  grant  to  the  colonists  are  equally 
worthy  of  notice.  The  colonists  were  srnarantied  all 
the  privileges,  liberties  and  franchises  of  Englishmen 
born  within  the  Realm.  They  were  protected  against 
all  1  ws  repugnant  to  the  laws,  statutes  and  customs 
of  England;  and,  what  is  particularly  deserving  of 
observation,  they  were  for  ever  exempted,  by  express 
covenant  in  the  Charter,  from  all  royal  taxation  by 
the  crown — from  all  "impositions,  customs  or  other 
taxationvS,.  quotas  or  contributions  whatever,"  to  be 
levied  by  the  King  or  his  successors.  There  is  also  a 
clause  which  provides  that  no  interpretation  shall  be 
made  of  the  Charter,  "  whereby  God's  holy  ii.id  true 
Christian  religion,  or  the  allegiance  due  to  us  (the 
King),  our  heirs  and  successors,  may,  in  any  icise^ 
suffer  by  change,  prejudice  or  diminutions'^ 

No  provision  was  made  for  submitting  the  laws, 
ordinances  or  proceedings  of  the  province,  either  to 
the  King  or  Parliament,  by  which  omission  the  secu- 
rity against  infractions  of  the  Charter  was  very  mate- 
rially diminished, — perhaps  in  a  great  niany  cases 
rendered  altogether  unavailing.  It  has  been  intimated 
that  this  omission  was  not  accidental,  but,  rather, 
intentionally  made  to  strengthen  the  hand  of  the  Pro- 
prietary against  a  supervision  which  he  chose  to 
have  as  little  exercised  as  possible.  This  defect  in 
the  Charter  was  complained  of  and  represented  by 
the  Commissioners  of  Plantations,  in  1633,  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  been 
passed  by  without  a  remedy.  "  Nothing,"  says  Chal- 
mers, "  can  afford  more  decisive  proof  than  these 
material  omissions,  that  Sir  George  Calvert  was  the 


■I 


CHARACTER  OP  GEORGE  CALV  -^ 


<«! 


chief  penman  of  the  grant.  For  the  rights  of  the 
Proprietary  were  carefully  attended  to,  but  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  crown,  the  rights  of  the  nation,  were 
in  a  great  measure  overlooked  or  forgotten."  This  is 
a  sketch  of  the  Charter. 

Certainly  we  may  affirm  of  it,  that,  however  benefi- 
cent it  might  be  under  the  ministration  of  a  liberal 
and  wise  Proprietary,  it  contains  many  features  which 
but  little  coincide  with  our  notions  of  free  or  safe 
government.  Considering  it  as  the  work  of  Lord 
Baltimore  himself,  it  is  a  very  striking  exponent  of  his 
political  opinions.  The  colonial  history  of  that  period, 
1632,  furnished  abundant  examples  in  the  New  Eng- 
land settlements,  of  government  on  a  much  more 
popular  basis,  and  we  can  not  suppose  that  these 
were  not  well  understood  by  Calvert.  We  must 
infer,  therefore,  that  he  was  no  great  admirer  of  those 
forms  which  diffused  power  amongst  the  people,  and 
restricted  the  exercise  of  it  in  the  magistrate— that  he 
was,  in  fact,  here,  as  well  as  in  England,  the  friend  of 
Prerogative  against  Privilege.     •  .' 

The  review  of  this  Chart  .-  impresses  me  strongly 
with  the  conviction  that  its  author  was  an  adroit 
manager  of  public  affairs,  skilful  in  business,  suffi- 
ciently awake  to  his  own  interest,  and  intent  on 
obtaining  as  much  from  the  crown  as  his  position 
enabled  him  to  procure;  that  he  was  remarkably 
calm  and  unobtrusive— even  compromising  and  politic 
—in  his  religious  opinions ;  and  that  he  enjoyed,  to 
a  very  extraordinary  degree,  the  favor,  esteem  knd 
confidence  of  his  sovereign. 

That  proviso  which  prohibits  any  interpretation  of 
the  Charter  which  might  "change,  prejudice,  or  di- 
minish" the  true  Christian  religion,  or  the  alle«riance 


Hi      ' 


O-i 


hlSCOUKSli:  ON    THK  LIKE  AM) 


4>^t  ' 


due  to  the  irovvn,  u as  undoubtedly  intended  to  guard 
the  rights  of  those  persons  atiached  to  the  English 
Church  who  might  emigrate  to  the  province*  and 
also  to  preserve  unimpaired  the  allegiance  of  all 
British  subjects,  as  that  allegiance  was  then  under- 
stood. It  was  a  very  natural  condition  for  a  Protest- 
ant monarch,  of  that  period,  to  require  in  tt,  grant  to 
any  subject,  when  the  grant  gave  such  powers  as 
those  contained  in  the  Maryland  Charter;  much  more 
when  that  subject  was  of  a  different  religious  faith 
from  the  monarch  hims'^If  The  mind  of  Great 
Britain  was,  at  that  date,  intensely  agitated  with  the 
fears,  jealousies  and  hatreds  of  a  fierce  religious 
quarrel.  The  question  of  the  supreriacy,  which  was 
involved  in  that  of  allegiance,  constituted  a  large 
ingredient  in  this  quarrel. 

The  oath  of  allegiance,  passed  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  and  li  n  in  force,  declared  the  King 
governor  of  all  his  jminions  and  countries,  "as  well 
in  all  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical  things  or  causes,  as 
temporal."  - 

It  was  held  by  the  highest  authorities  of  the 
Romish  Church,  that  this  oath  could  not  be  taken  by 
those  who  professed  that  faith,  without  incurring  the 
censure  of  the  church : — though  it  is  known  that 
many  Catholics  in  England  did  not  so  interpret  it. 
Upon  the  detection  of  the  (iun  Powder  plot,  a  new 
oath  was  exacted  by  Parliament,  which  was  particu- 
larly aimed  at  the  Catholic  party.  All  persons  who 
were  suspected  to  belong  to  that  party  were  required 
to  take  it  upon  the  demand  of  •  Bishop  of  the  Dio- 
cess,  or  of  the  .Justices  of  the  Peace.  It  contained  a 
denial  of  the  power  of  the  Pope  to  depose  the  King, 

*  See  1  vci,  Ha/.aul'*  State  Papers,  pp.  621  and  624. 


CHARACTEH  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


6s: 


or  to  dispof-.e  of  his  dominions,  or  to  absolve  his  sub- 
jects from  their  allegiance;  and  it  abjured,  as  impiou*;, 
the  doc^  ■  ^e  that  excommunication  of  a  prince  author- 
ized hi    ■     ag  put  to  death  or  deposed  by  his  subjects. 

This  oath,  like  the  former,  furnished  matter  of  dis- 
content to  the  Roman  Pontiff.  Paul  the  Fifth  ad- 
dressed a  brief  to  the  English  Catholics,  commanding 
them  to  abstain  from  taking  it,  holding  that  it  could 
not  be  taken  "  without  hurting  of  the  Catholic  faith." 

Upon  this  arose  that  celebrated  dispute,  v^'hich 
makes  no  small  figure  in  the  hi.story  of  the  time,  be- 
tween King  James  on  one  side,  and  Paul  the  Fifth, 
with  Cardinal  Bellarmine,  on  the  other.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  intrinsic  merits  of  this  dispute,  it 
is  very  certain  that  it  greatly  irritated  the  public 
mind,  and  produced  a  large  store  of  ill-will  between 
the  friends  and  followers  of  the  two  parties.  King 
James  himself  had  written  and  spoken,  argued  and 
scolded  in  this  quarrel,  in  the  sharpest  temper  of  that 
vain  pedantry  for  which  he  was  renowned.  There 
is  something  amusing,  as  well  as  characteristic,  in 
the  quaint  and  solemn  anger  of  the  following  out- 
break, which  I  find  in  a  speech  delivered  by  him 
in  the  Star  Chamber  in  1616. — 

"  I  confess."  he  says,  "  I  am  loth  to  hang  a  priest 
only  for  religion's  sake  and  saying  mass,  but  if  he 
refuse  the  oath  of  allegiance,  which,  (let  the  Pope 
and  nil  the  devils  in  hell  say  what  they  will,)  yet,  as 
you  find  by  my  book  and  divers  others,  is  merely 
civil,— those  that  so  refuse  the  oath,  and  are  poly- 
pragiiiatic  recuranls,  I  leave  them  to  the  law ;  it  is  no 
persecution,  but  good  justice." 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  despotic  monarch,  in 
such  a  p(ylif pragma  fie  temper  as  (his,  would  be  likely 


30 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


to  make  a  grant  of  power  to  govern  a  state,  without  a 
vigilant  eye  to  this  question  of  allegiance,  and  some 
such  reservation  as  this  of  our  Charter,— first  inserted 
in  that  of  Avalon,  and  exacted,  no  doubt,  by  Charles 
in  the  copy  of  that  which  was  granted  for  Maryland. 
I  stop  here  to  remark  that  Sir  George  Calvert,  at 
the  date  of  the  Avalon  Charter,  is  generally  reputed 
to  have  been  of  the  Protestant  faith.  In  1624,  when 
he  resigned  liie  post  of  Secretary  of  State,  "  he  freely 
confessed  to  the  King,"  says  Fuller,  "  that  he  was  then 
become  a  Roman  Catholic." 

Upon  this  question  of  the  supposed  conversion  of 
Calveri,  thetC  seenis  to  be  room  for  great  doubt.  I 
do  not  believe  in  it  at  all.  I  think  there  is  proof 
extant  to  show  that  he  had  always  been  attached 
to  the  Church  of  Rome,  or,  at  least,  from  an  early 
period  of  nis  life. 

The  chief  authority  for  his  conversion  is  Fuller,  in 
the  passage  to  which  I  have  referred.  That  account 
assigns  it  to  the  year  1624,  when  it  occasioned,  ac- 
cording to  the  author,  his  resignation.  Now  Calvert 
settled  his  colony  in  Newfoundland  in  1621;  and  Old- 
mixon  and  others,  amongst  whom  I  find  our  o..ra 
historian  Bozman,*  have  ascribed  this  settlement  to 
his  w  ish  to  provide  an  asylum  for  persecuted  Catho- 
lics. Although  I  cannot  discover  any  warrant  for 
this  statement,  either  in  the  history  of  the  times  or  in" 
what  is  known  of  Calvert,  yet  the  assertion  of  it  by 
Oldnuxon  and  those  who  have  preceded  or  followed 
him,  demonstrates  that  they  did  not  credit  the  story 
of  the  conversion  as  given  by  Fuller:  for  the  author 
of  the  Worthies  of  England  dates  the  conversion 
three  years  later  than  the  settlement  of  Avalon,  and 

•Historyof  Maryland,  vol.  1,  p.  2.32. 


CHARACTER  OF  URORGE  CALVERT. 


31 


affirms  it  to  be  the  motive  to  Calvert's  resignation  of 
a  high  trust,  whic»^,  he  informs  us,  the  Secretary 
supposed  he  could  not  conscientiously  hold  as  a 
Catholic. 

If  the  conversion  had  taken  place  so  early  in  the 
life  of  George  Calvert  as  to  have  opened  to  him  the 
scheme  of  planning  a  settlement  for  his  persecuted 
fellow  Catholics  in  Newfoundland,  it  must  have  hap- 
pened before  1621.  Indeed,  as  such  a  scheme  was 
not  of  a  character  to  be  matured  without  long  con- 
sideration, and  preparing  for  the  enterprise,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  presume  that  he  had  been  of  the  faith 
which  he  was  so  anxious  to  protect,  even  in  1619, 
when  he  accepted  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State.' 
We  might  then  ask,  why  did  he  accept  that  office 
with  the  scruples  imputed  to  him  by  Fuller?  At  all 
events,  why  did  he  not  resign  it  in  1621,  if  he  had 
such  scruples? 

Even  in  1624,  the  King,  if  Fuller's  story  be  true, 
did  not  recognise  the  necessity  of  Calvert's  resigna- 
tion, fo;  he  was  so  affected  '  by  this  his  ingenufty," 
says  Fuller,  '•  that  he  continued  him  privy  councillor 
all  his  reign,  and  soon  after  created  him  Lord  Balti- 
more, of  Baltimore  in  Ireland." 

Why  should  he  resign?  The  only  motive  that 
could  impel  hiiri  to  it,  as  a  question  of  conscience, 
was  the  necessity  of  taking  the  oaths  of  supremacy 
and  allegiance.  These  he  had  already  taken  when 
he  accepted  office,  and  this  being  done,  his  continu- 
ance in  office  threw  no  new  obligations  upon  him. 
Calvert  was  not  averse  from  taking  these  oaths,  we 
may  fairly  infer— first,  because  he  had,  in  fact,  taken 
them  on  assuming  office;  and  second,  because  his 
Avalon  Charter,  already  granted,  and  his  Maryland 


32 


DISCOUKSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


4* 


Charter,  which  was  conferred  but  a  few  years  after- 
wards, both  placed  liiin  under  obligations,  on  this 
point  of  supremacy  and  aUegiance,  which,  as  an  hon- 
orable man,  he  could  not  have  incurred  if  he  enter- 
tained the  scruples  imputed  to  him.  It  is  only  to 
read  the  Charter,  and  to  observe  the  import  of  the 
clause  relating  to  the  consecration  of  churches,  the 
security  of  the  religion  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  the  allegiance  due  to  the  crown,  which  I  have 
already  noticed,  to  see  the  force  of  this  conclusion. 

I  cannot,  therefore,  perceive  with  Fuller  that  there 
was  any  special  reason  connected  with  Calvert's 
otficial  relation  to  James,  which  rendered  it  a  poirt  of 
conscience  that  he  should  give  up  his  oiHce.  Nor  can 
I  believe,  if  he  had  surrendered  his  post  for  that  rea- 
son, he  could  have  retained  the  favor  of  the  Kinff; 
much  less  that  he  could  have  attracted  such  renewed 
manifestations  of  it  as  he  experienced.  I  discredit 
the  story  altogether.  There  were  several  Catholic 
noblemen  who  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  friendship 
of  James,  and  received  high  dignities  from  him  :  there 
were,  for  example,  the  two  Howards,  Lords  Thomas 
and  Henry,  one  the  son  and  the  other  the  brother  of 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  v»  ^  both  brought  into  the 
ministry,  the  first  being  created  Earl  of  Norfolk,  and 
made  Lord  Treasurer,  the  second  Earl  of  Northamp- 
ton. There  was  no  ^reat  asperity  in  the  feelings  of 
James  against  such  Catholics  as  had  been  bred  and 
nurtured  in  that  faith.  Towards  such  lie  was  in  the 
habit  of  expressing  the  most  tolerant  opinions.  But 
he  was  noted  for  the  avowal  of  particular  hostility 
against  such  as  had  been  converts  from  the  Protest- 
rrnt  Church.  In  a  speech  delivered  at  Whitehall,  in 
1609,  on  the  occasi.m  of  the  opening  of  Parliament, 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT.  33 

lie  said,  "I  divide  all  my  subjects  that  are  papists 
nto  wo  ranks;  either  old  papists  that  were  so 
brought  up  m  times  of  popery,  and  those  that  ^o 
younger  m  years,  yet  have  never  drunk  in  other  milk 
-or  else  such  as  do  become  apostates,  having  once 
been  of  our  profession,  and  have  forsaken  the  truth 
either  upon   discontent  or  practice,  or  else  upon  a 

ight,  vam  humor  of  noveLy. For  the  former  sort 

I  pity  them,  but  if  they  be  good  and  quiet  subjects,  I 
hate  not  their  persons;  and  if  I  were  a  private  man, 
I  could  well  keep  a  civil  friendship  and  conversation 
With  some  of  them.     But  as  for  these  apostates,  who 
1  know  must  be  the  greatest  haters  of  their  own  sect 
I  confess  I  can  never  show  any  favorable  countenance 
toward  them;  and  they  may  all  be  sure,  without  ex- 
ception,  that  they  shall  never  find  any  more  favor  of 
rae  than  I  must  needs,  in  justice,  afford  them,  and 
these  would  I  have  the  law  to  strike  severeliest  upon 
and  you  carefuUest  to  discover."     Eight  years  afte^ 
this,  we  find  Uiv  expressing  the  same  feeling,  in  lan- 
guage equally  strong.     He  says,  in  1616,  in  his  Star 
Chamber  speech,  "  I  can  love  the  person  of  a  papist, 
being  otherwise  a  good  man  and  honestly  bred  never 
having  known  any  other  religion ;  but  the  person  of 
an  apostate  papist  I  hate." 

It  is  not  to  be  believed  that  James,  thus  openly 
avowing  and  reiterating  such  sentiments,  would  con- 
sent openly  to  reward,  with  distinguished  marks  of 
favor,  a  subject  who  stood  precisely  in  the  cate-orv 
he  so  strongly  denounced.  It  is  against  all  rational 
deduction  of  human  conduct  to  believe,  in  the  face 
oi  James  known  aversion  against  converts  to  'le 
Catholic  from  the  Prolestant  faith,  and  his  con- 
tinued manifestation   of  kindness   to  Calvert,   that 


31 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


the  Story   told   by   Fuller,  of  Calvert's  conversion, 
can  be  true. 

I  refer  to  these  facts,  and  especially  to  these  ex- 
tracts from  the  writings  and  speeches  of  King  James, 
in  no  sectarian  spiriU  I  am  incapable  of  being  en- 
listed as  a  partisan  in  such  a  cause.  My  respect  for 
all  who  honestly  profess  the  faith  of  either  of  the 
churches  to  which  this  controversy  refers,  and,  above 
all,  my  reverence  for  the  rights  of  conscience,  forbid 
me  to  allude  to  these  incidents  with  any  other  pur- 
pose than  to  use  the  frets  which  they  supply  to  the 
illustration  of  a  very  interesting  point  in  the  history 
of  this  State.  They  furnish  an  almost  conclusive  ar- 
gument to  prove  that  Sir  George  Calvert  was,  if  not 
actually  nursed  in  the  faith  oi  Rome,  no  convert  to 
that  faich  in  his  period  of  manhood :  that  if  he  ever 
was  a  Protestant,  there  is  no  record  of  it  within  o  ir 
knowledge. 

There  were  many  in  those  days  who  did  not  choose 
to  incur  the  vexations  and  perpetual  annoyances  of 
the  proocription  which  the  law  denounced  against 
Catholics;  and  to  avoid  these,  they  chose  to  conceal 
their  opinions.  The  better  part  of  the  community,— I 
mean  the  more  considerate  and  liberal — connived  at 
these  concealments,  and  gave  the  parties  all  the  aid 
in  their  power.  We  fmd  constant  refer,  nces  to  this 
fact  in  the  history  of  the  time.  James  himself  secretly 
sustained  many  of  these,  especially  when  the  persons 
concerned  were  friendly  and  .serviceable  to  himself. 
In  addition  to  the  names  I  have  alrer.dy  given,  I  fmd 
proof  of  this  in  a  fiict  recorded  by  Burnet.  I  quote 
from  his  History  of  his  Own  Times :— "  He  (the  King) 
fearing  an  opposition  to  his  succeeding  to  the  crown 
of  England  from  the  papisi  party,  which,  though  it 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGh  -^ALVERT.  35 

had  Jittle  strength  in  the  House  of  Commons,  vet  was 
%'^ry  great  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  was  vt,y  con- 
siderable in  all  the  northern  parts,  and  among  the 
body  of  the  people,  employed  several  persons  who 
were  known  to  be  papists,  though  they  complied  out- 
wardly The  chief  of  these  were  Elphinston,  Secre- 
tary of  State,  whom  he  made  Lord  Bafmerinoch, 
and  Season,  afterwards  Chancellor  and  Earl  of  Dun- 
lermlme." 

I  much  rather  incline  to  the  belief,  without,  in  anv 
degree,  oerogating  from  Lord  Baltimore's  integrity, 
that  he  was  one  of  those  who  did  not  choose  to  make 
any  very  public  exhibition  o.  his  faith ;  prefcprinfftlie 
peace  and  security  of  private-  worship  to  the  hazard 
and  content.on  which  a  too  open  manifestation  of  it 
might  brmo.  That  being  a  man  of  moderate  opinions, 
tolerant,  and  unassuming,-a  sensible  and  discreei 
man,  enjoymg  the  confidence,  and  diligently  employed 
m  the  serv.ee  of  the  King,-he  thought  it  the  ^ari  of 

possible  confined  to  the  privacy  of  lus  own  chamber. 
We  may  believe  that  James  vva«  not  too  curious  to 
mqmre  mto  ti.e  private  opinions  of  a  useful  and  faith- 
ful servant ,  and  that  when,  in  the  last  yea>-  of  that 
monarch's  hfe,  Calvert  made  some  ope/ avowal  to 
him  of  his  attachment  to  the  proscribed  faith,-wl,ich 
most  probably  the  King  had  known  or  surmised  Ion' 
he(ore,~the  disclosure  produced  no  more  unfriendly 
answer  than  an  assurance  of  unabated  confidence 
and  the  promise  of  further  preferment.  This,  to  mJ 
«.nKl  is  the  most  rational  explanation  of  th^  vary- 

heen  at  the  foundation  of  the  story  told  by  Fuller 
It   is   much   the    most    probable  surmise    ihat    the 


^ 


96 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


Secretaryship  was  resigned,  not  on  a  scruple  of 
conscienc  but  from  a  desire  on  the  part  of  Calvert 
to  visit  his  colony  in  Newfoundland,  which  he  did 
very  soon  ^''terthat  event.* 

There  are  other  circumstances  to  raise  a  doubt  of 
the  story  of  the  convcfJon,  All  the  children  of  Lord 
Baltimore,  of  whom  we  know  any  thing,  were  Roman 
Catholics.  We  can  hardly  suppose  their  conversion 
to  have  followed  that  of  their  father,  in  1624,  Cecil, 
the  eldest,  was  in  his  eighteenth  year.  Leonard, 
who  took  charge  of  the  first  colony  in  1633,  must 
have  been  but  one  or  two  years  younger.  Philip, 
who,  in  1656,  was  made  Secretary  of  the  Province, 
and  subsequently  Chancellor,  and  then  Governor, 
was  probably  very  young  at  the  period  of  his  father's 
death. t     These  three  .sons  we  know  were  Catholics. 

•  Vide  note,  page  38,  owing  that  Lord  Baltimore  visited  Newfoundland 
very  soon  aner  his  resignation. 

t  In  thr  JVlemoira  of  the  Baltimore  Family,  published  in  the  London  Magazine, 
June,  1768,  it  is  said  that  Ueorge  Lord  Baltimore  had  eleven  children  :— Cecil, 
Leonard,  George,  Francis,  Henry,  John,  Anne,  Dorothy,  Elizabeth,  Grace,  and 
Helen.  John  and  Francis  died  before  thoir  father.  Anne  married  William 
Peaseley,  Esq. ;  Grace  married  Sir  George  Talbot,  of  Cartoun  ^n  the  county  of 
Kildare,  Bart. 

No  mention  is  made  in  this  list  of  Philip,  who  resiil  i  for  many  years  in  the 
Province  of  Maryland,  and  filled  some  of  the  highest  offices  in  it.  In  the  Ap- 
pendix to  the  second  volume  of  Bozman's  Maryland,  p.  69!),  may  be  seen  the 
commission  of  Cecil,  to  "  our  very  losing  brother  Philip  Calvert,  Esq.,"  creating 
him  one  of  the  Council.  A  tablet  erected  to  the  memory  of  Lady  Baltimore,  in 
Hertingfordbury  Church,  has  the  following  inscription, — as  well  as  I  am  able  to 
decipher  it  in  the  wretched  Latin  which  I  copy  from  an  obscure  MS.,  of  the 
origin  of  which  I  am  ignor-'it: 

Obiii .-)  Jie  August,  Anno  Salutis,  1622. 
D.  O.  M.  S. 

ET 

JUCUNDISS.  MEMORLt 

AJ^SJE  GEOR.  F.  JOAN.  N.  MINNiE 

Ad  omnia  quaecunoue  egregia  nata*,  ad  meliora  regressa;, 

Pietate,  pudicitia,  prudentia  incomparabilis  femina-, 

Georgius  L.^'on.  F.  Joan.  N.  Calvertus  Eques  Aur.    Invictisa.  Jacobo  Regi 


•   K 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


37 


« 


When  did  they  become  so  7  It  is  assuming  too  much 
to  suppose  that  the  mere  influence  of  the  parent's  ex- 
ample would  be  sufficient  with  the  two  elder,  Cecil 
and  Leonard,  at  their  time  of  life,  to  induce  them  to 
abandon  the  church  in  which  they  were  bred,  for 
another,  against  which  all  the  prejudices  of  their 
ycjth  and  all  the  influences  of  their  education  must 
have  been  arrayed.  It  is  much  more  probable  that 
these  sons  were  privately  nurtured  in  the  faith  to 
which  their  parents  had  been  attached  before  the 
children  were  born. 

Amongst  the  proofs  to  be  brought  against  the  con- 
version, there  is  a  strong  passage  in  Rapin,  which 
seems  almost  to  settle  the  question. 

Referring  to  the  intrigues  of  the  Spanish  nnnister, 
Oondomar,  in  1020,  to  manage  k--  ,  'ames,  through 
his  eagerness  for  the  Spanish  mrJch— t,  j  marriage  of 
the  Prince  of  Wales  to  the  Infiinta— and,  by  the  pre- 
text  of  ,iromoting  that  marriage,  to  prevent  the  king 
from  taking  up  the  cau.se  of  his  son-in-law,  the 
Elector  Palatine,  Rapin  remarks :— "  He  (the  king) 
was  so  possessed  with  the  project  of  ending  the  war 
by  means  of  this  match,  that  nothing  was  capable  of 
altering  this  belief.  Count  Gondomar  had  bribed 
with  presents  and  pensions  all  those  who  had  the 

Mag.  Britanic.  Franc.  Hibernian,  pio  felici,  semper  augusto,  secret,  prim 
Et  a  conciliis  sanctoribus,  qu»  cum  vixit  annos  18,  sine  offensa.  liberosque 

pari  sexus  discrimine  decern 
Reliquit  Cecilium    Leonardam.  Georgium,  Franciscum,   Henric»m,  Annam 
Dorotheam.  Ehzabetham.  Graciam,  Helenam.    Sextem  autem  filiu;  Johan- 

nem,  mortis, 
Heu,  suae  luctiisque  paterni  prodromum  edidcrat. 
Tarn  suavis  contubernii  memor  maritus,  tanfoque 
Dolore  et  desiderio  impar,  conjugi  sanctissim.T  hoc 
Monumentiim  manibus  geminis  gemena  posuif, 
Sibique  et  suis  posteris  eorum. 
Vixit  An.  xlii.  m.  ix.  d.xviii 


38 


DISCOURSE  o>  riiK  i,ife  and 


4* 


( 


king  «  ear,  and  who  took  care  to  cherish  him  in  this 
va.n  project.     Particularly-the   auth,  ^  adds    in  a 

EarlsTV"  ?'""7  ''  ^^^'"^  Wilson,-!"  the 
fc-arls  of  Worcester  and  Arundel,  the  Lord  Di<^bv 

Sir  George  Calvert,  S.r  Richard  Weston  and  o  hers 
popishly  affected^*  ^* 

I  produce  this  passage  not  to  give  credit  or  cur- 
rency  to  the  bribery-vvhich,  in  deference  to  Calvert's 
high  character,   integrity   and  honor,  I  utterly  ds 
beheve,-but  to  show  that,  in  1620,  h^  was  regarded 
as  a  gentleman  well  affected  to  the  Church  of  Rome 
and  was  associated,  in  the  public  estimation,  ^Tth 
that  party  who  were  favorable  to  the  Spanish  ^atch, 
-a  project  which  was  particularly  repLnant  to  the 
great  body  of  the  Protestants  of  that  d' ^  and  no  let 
particularly  sought  ar.d  desired  by  the  C;tholics  f 

of  Spain  to  his  minister  ,n  f  rence  Ht  exhiliUnl  '"^''"'=***'"«  "^ ^^^  ^^^^ 
diplomacy.  It  may  arouse  us  to  llrnh  I  ?  "^ ''"'^  •=""""'  feature  of 
these  .nstructions,  as  we  my  s  e  frlm  Loth"  '"r^^'^  «'"-''^°-"  Practised  on 
diately  follows  that  I  hr.ve^st  quoS  "  i^thes  ^'"h'  ""'"'  "'"'=''  '"^^'■ 
bribed  the  very  lad.es,  espiciairthose  who  tl  ^"'t''"  ^'''°"  ^^^^  ^^ 
company  resorted,  that  they  miLh  tal  ov  surh  '^r'''  ""^  "^  *''•""  ""^^^^ 

sions.  and  stop  them  .f  the/rut  o  fa  iTutTt?  "  Tl '"  ^'^'^  ^^P^^^" 
Lady  Jacobs,  who.  upon  Jis  passing  bfLrwtdowTn^i^'h' "'''"'^' *'^ 
answering  his  salutation  as  usual  ont  LTa      .k  u  '  *'''*""*  '°''^^'*  "<" 

again  next  day,  he  sent  t'know  the  r'Si  The  r  VT";"!!""'  "P^^""^ 
be  stopped  as  well  as  other  ladks  '  "  ^  '"^'  '  '*'"  '""^  *  '"""^h  to 

.:?;  ;v:nf  ^i  t^:;:^^:^  ";:^S'V":  r^^-^-  *^»*  -- 

remarks,  at  the  time  of  his  being  made' lord  B^f^  T  ^''  '='^"^«»'°''.  ^ut 
well  affected  to  Popery.  Wood'matt  retire  cerF:ii:'"  7'"'''  ''  '^ 
can  learn,  is  the  sole  authority  for  the  story  o  t  e  coVve^si^n     "    '  "  '"  "  ' 

My  view  of  Calvert's  private  adhesion  to  the  cZch  of  « 
much  earlier  than  is  ascribed  to  him  hv  p  i.      •  '^  ^"""^  ^'  ^  ''ate  so 

following  extract  from  a  let  er  wrm^n  bv  Ahh";  l^T'''  ^''-S^^ened  by  the 
to  SirT.  Roe.  just  before  Lord  B  Irl'f  v  ■  ^'t  'Nej;  ''^t''."'  "'^"'"^^^"^^ 
quoted  from  Roe'»  Letters,  p.  372,  by  Horee  w^^  !"''''"'' ^'"='' " 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


39 


I  have  now  set  forth  the  principal  facts  which  have 
been  accessible  to  my  search,  to  disprove  the  cur- 
rent opinion  concerning  Lord  Baltimore's  religion. 

This  point  is  of  great  importance  as  an  index  to 
the  character  of  Calvert,  and  of  his  conduct  in  the 
settlement  of  Maryland.  If  it  be  true,  as  I  have 
endeavored  to  show,  that  Calvert,  during  the  period 
of  his  official  service  in  the  government  and  at  the 
date  of  hi.«  settlements  in  Newfoundland  and  in  Mary- 
land, was  a  Roman  Catholic -this  fact  presents  him 
to  us  m  a  new  light,  from  which  we  may  gather  some 
very  striking  views  of  our  early  colonial  history,  and 
much  also  to  increase  our  good  opinion  of  the  founder 
of  the  State. 

Regarding  him  in  this  character  of  a  Catholic  gen- 
tleman, and  scanning  his  history  in  that  relation,  we 

SmT.X  T'^"  h.m  discontented;  and,  as  the  saying  is,  Desneratio 

w  >  ,  v?h  T  '"'"  '°  '■'"^"  ^''  secretary's  place  to  Sir  Albertus  Morton 
mo  e  .„  Ireland  :  so  he  is  withdrawn  from  us-  and  having  bought  a  ship  of  400 
tons  he  IS  going  to  New  England  or  Newfoundland,  whe^re  he'hath  a  JoLy  " 
rnncf      r  *^"""°"y  from  an  enemy,  who  might  be  inclined  to  put  the  worst 

V     M  t^ef"  '^''"'*'  'T'  '''  '"  "^  "  ">"'=''  *°  '-  P-J""'"  -  "e  cou 
s  ill  fin.        f  r,;  "'  ""'^  '^''"'^'^'^  ""^  "'°'*^'^^  '"=  ''"P"^"  t"  Calvert,  we  may 

till  find  useful  Illustration  in  the  fact.-  to  which  he  refers.  This  account  cer 
tainly  proves  that  Calvert  was  believed  by  his  contemporaries  to  be  sec  et^y  a 

171  ,  ^""''''  °^  ^°"^'  ^'"^  ^^  ""^y  ''''■^'-  '■^'""  it  ^  very  cogent  support 

of  the  view  I  have  endeavored  to  present  of  his  character  ^^ 

of  Ge'^ie  m'"  *°  ^p'''''  ''"'  '^^  '""^'y  °*'  ^^^'y  Calvert-she  was  the  daughte. 

of  George  Mmne,  Esq.-weie  Catholics;  as  I  find  in  Hushworth,  vol.  I,  p.  395. 

n     e  year  1626,  that  Sir  Henry  Minne  is  presented  by  the  House  of  Commons 

mport  would  seem  to  contribute  some  aid  to  the  argument  1  have  ollcred 
Calvert  sinamage  into  a  Catholic  family  might  either  indicate  his  original  at 
tachment  to  the  faith  of  Rome,  or  explain  nis  early  a.lhesion  to  it,  and  the  fact 
also,  of  his  children  being  educated  in  its  tenets. 

The  evidence  thus  accumulated  upon  this  point  leaves  us  uo  room  to  doubt 
the  inaccuracy  of  Fuller's  statement. 


40 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


shall  find  strong  motive  to  admire  him  for  some  excel- 
lent and  rare  qualities  of  character. 

The  times  through  which  he  lived  were  peculiarly 
trying  to  men  of  rank  and  consideration  attached  to 
the  Chp-^Ji  of  Rome.     The  religious  wars  of  the  Re- 
formation had  kept  Europe,  during  almost  a  century, 
in  a  state  of  ferocious  exasperation.     The  Protestants 
had  gained  the  ascendancy  in  England  during  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  but  were  not  so  confident  in  the 
security  of  their  position  as  to  relax  either  ihe  rigor 
or  the  vigilance  of  their  jealousy  of  the  adverse  party. 
Unfortunately,  the  heady  zeal  of  fanatics,  on   the 
other  side,  aided  by  the  ancient  hatreds  which  centu- 
ries had  nursed,  had  perj    trated  many  excesses  that 
gave  too  much  cause  to  this  jealousy.     I  will  not  al 
lude  to  them  more  particularly,  because  I  take  no 
pleasure  in  reviving  passages  of  history  which  had 
much  better,  on  occasions  like  this,  be  forgotten.     It 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  Parliament  of  England, 
stimulated  both  by  real  and  imaginary  fears  of  the 
Roman   Catholic   party,   and,   doubtless,   something 
moved  by  the  characteristic  temper  of  the  theological 
warfare  that  still  raged,  passed  several  severe  dis- 
abling statutes,  which  suspended  over  the  Catholic 
subjects  ol  the  realm  the  vexations,  if  not  the  terrors, 
of  a  very  keen  proscription.     The  Puritan^    some- 
what famed  at  that  day  for  their  intolerance  of  all 
sects,  but  e.vj>ecially  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  were 
gaining    the  ascendancy  in   Parliament,  and  were 
infusing  into  that  body  a  large  admixture  of  their 
o'»n  dislikes. 

In  such  a  time,  the  prudence  of  Calvert  conducted 
him  not  only  safely  through  the  perils  of  his  career, 
but  enabled  him,  in  addition,  to  secure  the  protection 


ti 

a 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


41 


and  favor  of  the  King.  In  such  a  time,  Calvert  be- 
came  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Company,  and  lent 
his  aid,  of  course,  to  the  scheme  of  coloniza'tion,  which 
it  fostered.  In  such  a  time,  he  obtained  the  charters 
of  Avalon  and  Maryland,  and  devoted  himself  with  a 
generous  zeal  to  the  project  of  settlement  which 
the.se  charters  contemplated. 

What  shall  we  say  of  that  clause  in  these  charters 
which  secured  to  all  emigrants,  who  chose  to  demand 
it,  the  free  exercise  of  the  religion  of  the  Church  of 
England?     What  of  that  grant  which  gave  to  the 
Proprietary   the   patronage   and   advowsons  of  the 
English  Church,  as  well   as  the  right   io  found  all 
the  churches  and  chapels  of  that  faith  ?     What  shah 
we  say  of  such  grants  as  tliese  to  a  Catholic  nobleman 
by  a  Protestant  Prince  ?    Certainly  we  may  say  that 
the  Prince  who  made  such  a  grant  had  gieat  faith  in 
the  religious  tolerance,  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of 
the  subject  to  whom  the  grant  was  made.    Certainly 
we  may  say  that  the  man  who  attracted  such  con- 
fidence, was  neither  a  fanatic  nor  a  bigot,  but  one 
whose  character  gave  the  highest  a.ssurance  that  his 
trust  would  not  be  abused. 

I  find  no  reason,  whatever,  to  suppose,  as  I  have 
already   inliinated,   that   in    the   planting  of  either 
Avalon  or  Maryland,  Lord  Baltimore  was  moved  by 
a  special  desire  to  provide  an  asylum  for  persecuted 
Catholics,  as  many  nave  alleged.     The  Charter  of 
Maryland  does  not  indicate  such  a  purpose,  nor  do 
the   proceedings  under  it.      Quite   the   reverse.      I 
gathc   from  tliat  Charter,  and  from  all  I  read  con- 
cerning vviiat  was  done  under  it,  that  it  was  planned 
by  Lord  Baltimore,  and  carried  into  execution  by 
him  and  his  sons,  in  a  spirit  of  the  broadest  and  most 
6 


42 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


liberal  toleration  towards,  at  least,  all  Christian 
sects.  The  wisdom  of  that  age  had  not  risen  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  that  universal  freedom  of  con- 
science-the  glory  of  the  present  time-which  limits 
not  to  Christendom  only  the  privilege  that  belongs  to 
mcnkind.  ° 

The  glory  of  Maryland  toleration,  which  has  been 
so  fruitful  a  theme  of  panegyric  to  American  histo- 
rians, IS  truly  in  the  Charter,  not  in  the  celebrated 
act^f  1649.     There  is  more  freedom  of  conscience 
more  real  toleration,  an  hundred-fold,  in  this  Charter 
of  a  Protestant  prince  to  a  Catholic  nobleman,  than 
in  that  act  so  often  recalled  to  our  remembrance,  in 
reference  to  which  I  propose  to  take  some  other  op- 
portumty   to  review  its   history   and    its    suppossd 
claims  to  our  admiration.     The  glory  of  Maryland 
toleration  is  in  the  Charter— not  in  the  act  of  'l64^ 
In  settling  the  colony  under  this  charter,  it  is  true 
that  Cecil,  the  second  Lord  Baltimore,  gathered  the 
colonists  chiefly  from  tlie  Roman  Catholics.     It  was 
quite  natural  that,  in  making  up  his  first  adventure 
the  Proprietary  should  have  gone  amongst  his  friends 
and  kinsmen,  and  solicited  their  aid  to  his  enterprise 
It  IS  to  their  credit  thaf  they  joined  him  in  it.     And 
much  more  to  their  credit  that  they  faithfully  admin- 
istered the  Charter,  by  opening  the  door  of  emigration 
to  all  Christian.s,  with  an  assurance  of  equal  rights 
and  privilege.     Where  have  we  such  a  spectacle  in 
that  age?     All  the  world  was  intolerant  of  religious 
opinion   but   this  little   band   of  adventurers,   who 
under  the  guidance  of  young  Leonard  Calvert,  com- 
mitted their  fortunes  and  their  hopes  to  the  Ark  and 
the  Dove,  and  entered  Maryland  between  St.  Michael 
and  St.  Joseph,—as  they  denominated  the  two  head- 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


43 


lands  of  the  Potomac,— the  portals  to  t.iat  little  wil- 
derness which  was  to  become  the  home  of  their 
posterity.  All  the  world  outside  of  these  portals  was 
intolerant,  prescriptive,  vengeful  against  the  children 
of  a  dissenting  faith.-Here,  only,  in  Maryland, 
throughout  all  this  wide  world  of  Christendom,  was 
there  an  altar  erected,  and  truly  dedicated  to  the 
freedom  of  Christian  worship.  Let  those  who  firrt 
reared  it  enjoy  the  renown  to  which  it  has  entitled 
them ! 

This  happy  enterprise  could   not  have  succeeded 
under  any   other   circumstances   than   those  whicii 
existed.     If  ChaHes  had  been  a  Catholic  Prince  a 
Catholic  Proprietary  would  have  procured  a  Charter 
for  the  establishment  of  a   Catholic   province      If 
Calvert  had  been  a  Protestant  nobkman,  a  Protest-^nt 
Prince  wouid  hav€  granted  him  a  Charter  for  a  Pro- 
testant province.     In  either  case  it  would  have  been 
proscriptive.     Both  of  these  predicaments  were  abun- 
dantly exemplified  in  the  history  of  that  period      Ex- 
clusiveness,  intolerance,  persecution  of  opposing  sects 
were  the  -nvariable  characteristics  of  eariy  American 
colonization.     It  was  to  the  rare  and  happy  coinci- 
dence of  a  wise,  moderate  jind  energetic  Catholic 
•statesman,  asking  and  receiving  a  Charter  from  a 
Protestant  monarch,  jealous  of  the  faith,  but  full  of 
honorable  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  his  servant 
that  we  owe  this  luminous  and  beautiful  exception  of 
Maryland  to  the  spirit  of  the  colonization  of  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

Before  this  enterprise  v^as  consummated,  Lord 
Baltimore  died.  His  son  Cecil  was  now  twenty-eight 
years  of  age.  To  him  was  committed  the  fulfilment 
of  his  father's  design.     He  was  faithful  to  the  tru.st^ 


44 


DISCOURSE  O.X  THE  LIFE  AND 


*    • 


il 


m 


and  ,n  the  same  beneficent,  liberal  and  sagacious 
sp.ra  T,  wind,  the  colony  was  first  projected  he  de- 
voted h„„self  to  the  ministration  of  its  affaik  He 
was  jvealtny  and  in  the  first  t„o  years  expended 
forty  thousand  pounds  upon  the  plantation 

It  IS  not  my  purpose  now  to  conunent  upon  the 
h..  ory  or  the  character  of  Cecil,  the  second  Lord 
Baltimore     I  reserve  that  for  another  tin.e.     I  wish 
.owever,  belore  I  dose  this  discourse,  to  note  some 
facts  connected  w.th   Cecil's   adnunis.ralion  of  the 
provmce,  to  show  how  admirably  and  how  justly  the 
lather  had  conceived  the  plan  of  a  beni-nant  "overn 
".ent.  and  how  faithfully  lihe  son  had  c'a  riedttfnto' 
execution.     The  incident  to  which  I  am  about   o  co^^ 
yo  r  attention,  ,s  an  index  to  the  purpose  of  Lord 
Baltimore,  more  comprehensive  and  pertinent  than  a 
volume  01  dissertutiou.    Maryland  inav  be  called  T„" 
L.ND  OP  THE  SA.^crcA,iv.    All  Christhms  were  invited 
.eely  within  its  borders.     They  fou,  d  there  a  w  f, 

heir "rir"';'  """"'^  "'"""»'  »"  ^"""-hment  on 
heir  rights  of  con.,ciei,ce  by  the  Lord  Proprietary  or 

^,s  government.  The  following  story,  copied^y 
Bozman  i-om  the  records  at  Annapolis,  will  i  lustrate 
not  only  how  tenderly  these  rights  of  conscience  we  e 
re-spected,  but-what  would  be  ,,,iile  remarkable  in 
any  government-what  delicate  concern  was  niani" 
ested  in  .he  early  administration  of  the  provi„ce"for 
the  sensibilities  of  those  who  might  feel  aggrieved  by 
any  attempt  to  insult  their  religious  opinions.  ^ 

A  proclamation  had  been  issued  by  Leonard  Calvert 
he  (.oyernor,  in  lti38,  to  prohibit  "all  unseasonable' 
disputations  ,n  point  of  religion,  tending  to  the  dis- 
turbance ol  the  public  peace  and  quiet  oF  the  colony 
and  to  ,he  openwg  of faaion  in  rcligim."-C,pJ^ 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


45 


Cornwaleys,  a  Catholic  gentleman,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  and  authoritative  persons  in  the  pro- 
vince, had  two  Protestant  servants  by  the  name  of 
Gray  and  Sedgrave.  These  two  chanced  to  be  read- 
ing aloud  together  Smith's  Sermons,— a  Protestant 
book,  and  were  overheard  by  William  Lewis,  ar, 
overseer  in  the  employment  of  Cornwaleys.  Lewis 
was  a  zealous  Catholic,  and  it  happened  that  the 
servants,  when  overheard  by  him,  were  reading  a 
passage  to  which  he  took  great  exception  :  it  cliarged 
the  Pope  to  be  Antichrist,  and  the  Jesuits  to  be  anti- 
christian  ministers.  Lewis,  it  seems,  supposed  this 
was  read  aloud  to  vex  him ;— whereupon,  getting 
into  a  passion,  he  told  them  "  that  it  was  a  falsehood, 
and  came  from  the  devil  as  all  lies  did :  and  that  he 
that  writ  it  was  an  instrument  of  the  devil,  and  he 
would  prove  it:  and  that  all  Protestant  ministers 
were  the  ministers  of  the  devil,"— and  he  forbade 
them  from  reading  more. 

Without  going  further  into  the  particulars,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  relate  that  the  two  servants  prepared 
a  formal  complaint  against  the  overseer,  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Governor  and  Council ;  that  Captain 
Cornwaleys  himself  gave  the  case  another  direction, 
by  sending  it  into  court,  of  which  Governor  Calvert^ 
Cornwaleys,  and  Mr.  Lewger,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Province,  were  the  members;  that  this  court  sum- 
moned all  the  parties  before  it,  heard  the  whole 
case,  and  fined  Lewis  five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco, 
and  ordered  him  to  remain  in  prison  until  he  should 
find  sureties  for  his  good  behaviour  in  future. 

This  proceeding  needs  no  comment.  It  certainly 
was  a  curious  matter  to  be  made  a  State  aflTair :— but 
it  very  strikingly  displays  the  patriarchal  character 


46 


DISCOURSE  O.V  THE  LIFE  AND 


i' 


Of  the  government  and  its  extreme  solicitude  to  keeo 

prov  nci.  It  „  curjou-s,  not  only  as  an  evidence  „f 
ti.e  tolerant  spirit  of  a  Catl.olic  administration  " 
gage,  m  defending  Protestant  subjec  f  ^m  Tn'suTt" 
but  also  as  an  evidence  of  the  ca/e  of  tha,  rrover^ 
■nent  to  protect  the  hun.blest  persons  wi.l  n  i.f  uri  " 
d.cl,o„  from  the  slightest  invasion  of  their  rtltsTf 

on  tl-   .ontin'e^f ""  '"  '"r  ""^'-y  »' -Ionization 
I  am  admonished  by  the  time  I  have  occuoied  of 

shall  do  th„,  ,„  presenting  the  character  of  Calvert 
as  ,t  strikes  me  ,n  the  revien  I  have  made  of  hi    l!  e 

cath^i^he  ^ept  ^.^  .^::!^  ;z]^z: 

rests,  behavmg  with  such  moder'aUon  and  prlietT 
man  of  great  good  sense,  not  obstinate  in  his  onilfon, 

digested  account-ofXfrs'-H  a^ree'd rith's'  iT' 
Popham,  in   the  design  of  ford^n  „]»„  f " 

differed  in  the  manner  of  exeutfit'^p"'"''  "" 
for  extirpating  the  original  inlSa  s;^:;  T, 
for  civilizing  and  convertinn-  them     T  ,. 7 

for  present  prolit;  the  latter  t^'reasoJrbletTe^r 
tion,  and  for  employing  governors  wl.n  Z  "^f^^*^' 
-ted   merchants,  U  'uncorerJ'^:::^;,:'"- 

•  American  Biography,  vol.  2.  p.  367.    Title  Cal.M. 


imii 


CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  CALVLRT. 


47 


wt3  for  granting  liberties  witli  caution,  leaving  every 
one  to  provide  for  himself  by  his  own  industry,  and 
not  to  depend  on  a  coinnion  interest." 

This  sketch  of  Calvert  is,  doubtless,  just.     We  may 
say,  in  addition,  that  he  was  characterized  not  less 
by  the  politic  management  than  by  the  vigor  with 
which   he  prosecuted  his  designs.     Considering  the 
difficulties  in  his  way,  nothing  but  the  greatest  tact 
and  judgnent  could  have  conducted  his  plan  of  the 
Maryland  settlement  to  a  prosperous  conclusion.     His 
address  in  the  contest  with  Virginia,  evidenced  by 
his  complete  success,  •>ives  us  a  high  opinion  of  his 
fitness  for  public  affairs.     The  enterprise  shown  by 
him  in  the  defence  of  Avalon  ;  his  perseverance  and 
promptness  in  bringing  his  Maryland  scheme  into 
action ;  his  personal  labors  in  both  of  these  colonies, 
impress  us   most  favorably  with   a  respect   for  his 
courage,  nis  eno-iiy,  and  his  skill  in  the  management 
of  iner.     The  posts  which  he  filled,  his  position  and 
conduct  in  parliament,  the  favor  and  esteem  he  seems 
always  to  have  inspired,  demonstrate  his  ability,  as 
well  as  his  prudence,  and  give  us  reason  to  infer  an 
amiable,  well  bred  and  affable  disposition  ;  the  charac- 
ter of  the  government  he  established  in  Maryland, 
and  the  just  sentiments  with  which  he  seems  to  have 
inspired  his  son,  and  the  lavish  expenditure  which  he, 
doubtless,  both  authorized  and  provided  before  his 
death,  attest  his  liberal  views  of  the  rights  of  con- 
science, his  generosity,  and  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
colonization. 

He  was  eminently  fitted  for  his  undertaking,  by  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  lived.  Although  we  have 
no  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  a  very  ardent  or 
zealous  follower  of  his  faith,  but,  on  the  contrary, 


48 


DISCOUHSE  ON  THE  LIFE  AND 


moderate  in  that 

conduct,  yet,  to  a  certain  extent,  he  liadYJen 


as  in  all  other  matters  of  opi 


in  adversity :— not  the  adversity  of 
favor,— but  in   that   adversity  whici 


sc 


nion  or 
liooled 


v^■ant,  or  of  di*:- 

„     r    ,         .  •'    •'   *   lo^ly   spirit 

equally  feels,-the  proscription,  nau.ely,  of  Imnself. 
Jjis  kmdred  and  friends,  for  maintaining   a  faith  to 
which  his  jud-ment   and  conscience  attached  him 
Persecution   and   intolerance  of  his  own    particular 
religious   opinions   taught    him,   what   they   ahv^ys 
teach  upright  minds,   the  practice  of  the  opposite 
Virtues;  arid  they  biought  him  to  a  true  appreciation 
of  that  nobleness  of  character  which  cherishes  free- 
dom or  opinion  as  one  of  the  highest  prerogatives  of 
a  rational    being.     In   this  respect    Calvert  was  in 
advance  of  his  age.     There  was  ever  before  him  a 
daily  admonition  of  the  necessity  of  reserve,  prudence 
and   hu.nility,    from   which  he  drew  a  wise  man's 
profit.     -Ihe   bitter  intolerance   which    was,   in    ],is 
lane,  more  or  less  the  characteristic  of  every  religious 
sect,-almost  the  univc.al  fashion  of  opinion,-^pent 
I  sell   with    peculiar  acrimony   in   England   ajjainst 
those  of  his  creed.     It  furni.shed  him  a  daily  lo^ic  of 
meditation,  and   so   chastened   hi.  feelings   towards 
mankind^  "It  is  the  method  of  charity,"-says  Sir 
1  homas  Brown,-"  to  suffe.-  without  reaction  "     This 
affords  us  the  key  to  those  virtues  which  appear  .o 
conspicuous  in  thj  frame  and  administration  of  the 
Maryland  Colony,  and  which  have  drawn  forth  so 
much  commendation  from  historians. 

"  Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity.'— Happy  is  he 
who,  experienced  in  these  uses,  comes  to  authority 
amongst  his  fellow  men ;  whose  temper,  tuned  to  the 
humility  of  suffering,  brings  a  heart  warm  with  that 
memory,  brings  a  mind   skilled,  by  old   sympathies 


CHARACTER  OP  GEORGE  CALVERT. 


49 


springing  from  the  knowledge  of  human  wrongs,  to 
some  station  of  control  wherein  he  may  somewhat 
direct  and  shape  the  lot  of  his  fellow  men.  Blessed 
IS  such  a  mpr.  in  his  generation,  %  wisely  and  hum- 
bly, with  ('  le  weighing  of  his  ow  ;  trials,  with  due 
reverence  for  that  holy  light  these  trials  have  thrown 
upon  the  pr.thway  of  justice  and  mercy  along  w  hicli 
he  is  commissioned  to  walk,— he  remembers,  heeds 
and  practises  the  duty  of  guidance  and  instruction  to 
his  subordinates. 

When  I  go  forth  to  seek  a  leader  of  mer   in  what- 
soever  enterprise,   let   me   find   him  of  a  generous 
nature,  of  a  manly,  brave  spirit,  of  clear  insight  of 
what  he  is  and  what  he  has  to  do,  of  sturdy  intelli- 
gence improved  by  all  good  studies,  of  honest  soul,— 
and  then  to  all  these  rare  perfections,  let  me  add  that 
richest  grace  which  comes  fro.    a  successful  encounter 
with  adversity— not  broken  by  it,  but  taught;  not 
hardened   in   heart,    but  mellowed   and   filled  with 
pity,— such  a  man  would  be  one,  above  all  men,  to 
follow,  cherish,  for  ever  remember.  Of  such  are  heroes 
made;  by  them  is  our  race  adorned,  exalted,  made 
worthy  of  history.     Truly,  I  believe  no  hero  ever  be- 
came  veritable  but  through  this  high  road  of  suffer- 
ing !     Mock  heroes  we  have  enough  :  the  world  is  full 
of  them,  who  strut  before  the  .ootlights  in  all  maimer 
of  tinsel ;  who  flaunt  on  many  r.ign-posts ;  who  fill  the 
throats  of  a  whole  senseless  gene.-ation  with  huzzas  :— 
such  mock  heroes,  with  their  "mud  jumble  of  hypoc- 
risies," we  have  in  all  times  to  a  surfeit.     But  no  true 
hero,  who  has  not  stood,  in  many  a  dark  day,  erect 
and  manful,  trusting  to  his  manhood,  and  confident 
to  carve  his  way  either  to  proud  de  ruction,  or  to  the 
prosperous  light.     This   world's  vicissitudes,  which 
7 


50 


DISCOURSE  ON  THE  LIFE,  ETC. 


^ules  for  l.r.weTvelU  ''-'o.c , -prepare  Her- 

long  circuZavlalL       "'"P'^Pr  '"'""  '"^  "'» 
abysa  of  water^a 'h,.' ~  P''P"«  Columbus  for  his 

World  or  e^TuneSrrr  '"  """"''  "««  ^- 
03i„ful  of  tyranny  '~      '""  P'"""'  ""''*- 


rmi?fff>-- 


